EASTERN BLUE GROSBEAK 73 



the longest being 3,4 seconds and the shortest 1.8 seconds. He 

 recorded ray ree ray totah ray reeray to see see totay and truray truray 

 tritray tritray tro tro. A single call note he recorded as tsink was 

 pitched on C4. As a flock flew by, before the time that singing began, 

 he recorded a long series of call notes as zit-zit-ziX-zit-zit-zu zoo- 

 zieet zieet zieet zi-zi-zi-zi-zi-zi-zi-zi. This ranged in pitch from 

 D3 to A4. He summarizes the song as being a series of notes, rather 

 irregularly alternated up and down in pitch, the quality musical 

 but burred. He considers the song weaker than that of the rose- 

 breasted grosbeak and less pleasing. 



Field marks. — The adult male blue grosbeak can be distinguished 

 from the male indigo bunting by its much larger size, thicker and 

 heavier bill, and by a broad band of chestnut on the median wing 

 coverts and a narrower band on the tips of the greater coverts; 

 except under favorable light conditions, it does not appear to be 

 blue, but rather an indefinite dark color; when sitting motionless 

 in a poor light, it might be mistaken for a male cowbird. 



The female somewhat resembles the female indigo bunting, but is 

 much larger, has a heavier bill and shows two wing bars; at certain 

 ages, there is more or less blue in her plumage, as described above. 



Fall. — After the breeding season, old and young birds gather in 

 flocks and feed in the grainfields, grasslands, and ricefields before 

 departing in September for their \vinter homes in Cuba, eastern 

 Mexico, and Central America. Dickey and van Rossem (1938) record 

 it as a rare migrant m El Salvador, frequenting the grasslands, fields, 

 and mimosa brush. 



Distribution 



Range. — Central Great Plams and Middle Atlantic States to Guate- 

 mala and Honduras. 



Breeding range. — The eastern blue grosbeak breeds from south- 

 western and central northern Oklahoma (Wichita Mountains; Kay 

 County), east central Kansas (Wilsey, Lawrence), north central 

 Missouri (Kansas City, Columbia), southern Illinois (Olney), south- 

 western Kentucky (Fulton County), northern Alabama (Decatur), 

 northern Georgia (Rome, Clayton) , western North Carolina (Weaver- 

 ville), eastern West Virginia (Shepherdstown) , southeastern Pennsyl- 

 vania (Carlisle), and southwestern New Jersey (Camden) south to 

 central and southern Texas (Brownsville, Austin, Houston), southern 

 Louisiana (Grand Coteau), central Alabama (Greensboro, Mont- 

 gomery), northwestern Florida (Jackson County, Tallahassee), and 

 southeastern Georgia (Blackbeard Island) . 



Winter range. — Winters from central Veracruz (Orizaba), Yucatan 

 (Merida), Swan Island, Cuba (rarely), and the Bahamas (New 



