66 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



injected, closing with a few rough notes. The song has a bold and 

 joyous quality which is very noticeable." One that he listened to in 

 early June began to sing at 3:55 a.m., 15 minutes before sunrise, and 

 "sang from the time it began, almost without any intermission, for 

 a period of 3 hours, each rendition of its song bemg followed by an- 

 other with scarcely a perceptible pause between. After this first burst 

 of more or less continuous singing, there began to be intermissions of 

 a few seconds between the songs. As the day wore on, the bird sang 

 less often, but it was not until 7 hours had passed that the song was 

 heard only at times. Then it became disconnected, only the whistling 

 notes bemg heard." 

 Weston (1947) says: 



Length of individual songs varies considerably. The shortest that I have 

 timed lasted one second, the longest eighteen ; the average song is five seconds in 

 length. The intervals between songs in series vary frorn one second to twenty- 

 seven seconds. In general, songs in the early morning are longer, louder, and 

 richer in quality than those at other times in the day. * * * 



In general, the songs of female grosbeaks are infrequent and never more than 

 four seconds in duration and are never loud. They are uttered while the female 

 is incubating or brooding, usually as the male comes to take his place on the eggs 

 or young. Several times during nest-building, the female uttered songs in the 

 vicinity of the nest and always in the presence of the male. The female will 

 occasionally sing while foraging in the peripheral foliage of trees, but only while 

 the male is close by. * * * 



The common call-note, a sharp spic, closely resembles that of the Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeak. * * * It is commonly emitted while both sexes are foraging and at 

 these times the calls are especially frequent, being repeated over and over at 

 regular intervals. 



Fall. — The same observer states: "Fall departure is apparently 

 irregular. Late in the season all individuals are quiet. The males 

 cease singing after mid-July and are the first to leave, generally dis- 

 appearing late in July. Females and young remain several weeks 

 longer and usually begin to leave in mid- August. In the past thirty- 

 two years, the last-seen dates at Berkeley have ranged from August 

 11 to October 9. Records after early September are probably those 

 of transients rather than local residents." 



Rathbun tells me that the black-headed grosbeaks leave the vicinity 

 of Seattle between September 5 and 20. 



Distribution 



Range. — Pacific slope from southwestern British Columbia to 

 Oaxaca. 



Breeding range. — The black-headed grosbeak breeds from south- 

 western British Columbia (Quiusam Lake, Coquitlam) south along 

 the Pacific coast to northern Baja California (Sierra San Pedro 



