EASTERN EVENING GROSBEAK 221 



examined. Practically all of my banding of these grosbeaks had been done in 

 the spring, until last fall (1925) ; and then from November 11 to March 1 I banded 

 eighty-four, forty males and forty-four females. The males had nearly all the 

 feathers in the white wing patch edged with yellow on the outer webs, except 

 the tips. This was true of the great majority of females as well * * *, 



Either from wear or fading the yellow edging lightens; in the males first on the 

 white secondaries; in the females, on the white patches of the primaries. This 

 fading of the yellow edging has been particularly noticeable since the first of 

 March * * * _ 



According to D wight (1900) the adult nuptial dress is acquired 

 by wear. 



Food. — The most important native food for the evening grosbeak 

 is the fruit of maple trees and especially of the Manitoba maple or 

 box elder {Acer negundo). A. G. Lawrence of Winnipeg sent the 

 following note to Mr. Bent: "From fall to early spring the seeds of 

 the Manitoba maple {Acer negundo) form their chief food, but ash 

 seeds and chokecherries, both green and dried are also eaten. They 

 have also been reported as feeding on low-growing weeds, and on the 

 buds of the Manitoba maple. They eat snow, scooping it up and 

 swallowing it in large quantities after feeding on seeds. In feeding on 

 the maple seed keys, the bird snips off the pod at the basal end, 

 manipulates the winged portion between the mandibles to express the 

 seeds from their compartments, swallows or presents the seeds to a 

 young one and allows the winged pod to flutter to the ground. The 

 operation is performed so rapidly that the eye can hardly follow the 

 action." 



Winsor M. Tyler (1916) describes in more detail the skill and pre- 

 cision with which the grosbeaks perform this operation, with their 

 apparently clumsy beaks. He concludes: 



Upon examining the wings which the birds had clipped off, it was apparent that 

 the birds had bitten directly over the kernel itself at a point rather nearer the 

 wing than the kernel. But, although by this incision the kernel was exposed, it 

 was never severed and allowed to fall with the wing, as would have been the case 

 had the beak been closed and bite completed. The cutting process was always 

 arrested at the point after the casing had been divided, but before the meat had 

 been severed. All this, although the process involved the nicest precision, was 

 accomplished with great rapidity, the wing fluttering to the ground within a 

 second or two after the fruit was plucked from the stem. 



E. L. Brereton, of Barrie, Ontario, wrote (MS.) on Apr. 11, 1937: 

 "I have always associated the evening grosbeak with the Manitoba 

 maple and always found them there, the sugar maple seeds being just 

 a change of diet, but this year found that they prefer the sugar maple 

 seeds when such can be obtained." 



Fred W. Behrend (1946) tells of their feeding habits in the south. 

 He writes (in part) from Elizabeth ton, Tenn.: 



