56 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



The nest was much like that of the rose-breasted grosbeak and was 

 placed about 7 feet from the ground in a slanting fork of a thorny- 

 bush in a thick grove of small poplars and other bushes. The male 

 was sitting on the eggs, and it was only with some difficulty that I 

 could drive him far enough away from the nest to shoot him; he 

 eventually fell into the nest and broke the eggs. 



We had seen this grosbeak in that same region the previous year 

 and heard its song, which to my ears was exactly like the robinlike 

 song of the rose-breasted grosbeak. Mrs. Bailey (1928) writes: 



The call of the Blackheaded is as thin and weak as his song is rich and full of 

 personality. At its best, the song excels in finish and musical quality. * * * 

 As a violinist, lingering to perfect a note, draws his bow again and again over the 

 strings, so this rapt musician dwelt lovingly upon his highest notes, trolling them 

 over till each was more exquisite and tender than the last, and the ear w^as charmed 

 with his love song. In Arizona, Mr. Henshaw had the good fortune to listen 

 to some of the delightful concerts with which the birds closed each day. In the 

 pine woods near Camp Apache, he tells us, "just after the sun had fairly sunk 

 below the woods, these Grosbeaks ascended to the tops of the tallest pines, and 

 thence sent forth their sweet strains till long after dusk had settled down upon 

 the deep forest." (1875, p. 297). 



Eggs. — This species usually lays three or four eggs, but sometimes 

 only two, and more rarely five, to a set. They are ovate with occasion- 

 ally a tendency to short-ovate, and have a slight gloss. The ground 

 may be "Etain blue," "pale Nile blue," or "pale Niagara green," 

 and well speckled, spotted, or blotched with browns such as "raw 

 umber," "Argus brown," "Mummy brown," or "Prout's brown," 

 with some underlying markings of "olive gr&j" or "mouse gray." 

 The markings are generally well scattered over the entire eggs and 

 usually in the form of speckles or spots. On most eggs the spots 

 become more concentrated toward the large end where, on occasion, 

 they form a solid cap. The measurem.ents of 50 eggs average 25.1 

 by 17.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 27.9 by 17.8, 25.4 by 18.8, 23.0 by 17.1, and 27.9 by 16.3 millimeters. 



Distribution 



Range. — Southwestern Canada to Ecuador, Colombia and Vene- 

 zuela. 



Breeding range. — The Rocky Mountain grosbeak breeds from 

 southeastern British Columbia (Okanagan Landing, Creston), north- 

 western Montana (Flathead Lake), southeastern Alberta (Walsh), 

 southwestern Sasatchewan (Maple Creek), northeastern Montana 

 (Glasgow) , and northwestern North Dakota (Charlson) south through 

 eastern Washington and eastern Oregon to extreme eastern Cali- 

 fornia (White Mountains, Clark Mountain), central and southeastern 

 Arizona (Prescott, Huachuca Mountains), and the Mexican Plateau 



