EASTERN EVENING GROSBEAK 227 



As a flock moves in flight in the pathway of the sky, a ringing note, 

 p-teer, p-zeer, is heard with each dip, proclaiming to the Hstening ear 

 below that a flock of evening grosbeaks is fl>nng by. We watch the 

 swift but wavy line of flight, punctuated by wild cries, until the 

 flock disappears in the distance. 



During migration evening grosbeaks fly high. At times their 

 voices are heard when we are unable to discern the flock in the sky. 

 Robert Ross Taylor writes me that at Scarborough, Ontario, he 

 heard the call notes of grosbeaks high over his head flying west at 

 about 11 :00 p.m. on Oct. 6, 1957. During the same autumn, W. W. H. 

 Gunn heard evening grosbeaks flying high above Toronto in the very 

 early hours of the morning when he was on a rooftop observing 

 Sputnik I. The birds were calling and moving westward. In both 

 of these cases the night was clear. These are the first reports I have 

 heard indicating that the species sometimes migrates at night. 



Of their manner of flying in wooded country, S. E. White (Butler, 

 1892) remarked: "Their flight through the woods is very swift, 

 reminding one, by the dexterity with which they avoid branches, 

 of a Pigeon; when in the open, however, it is more like that of a 

 Blackbird." He also notes that when on the ground they "move 

 by hopping, holding themselves like Robins, and turn over the leaves 

 with great dexterity, picking up the seeds from under them." 



Very rarely is the bird ever seen by anyone in the evening. Ada 

 Clapham Govan (1940) comments: "Where the grosbeaks spent their 

 afternoons, no one in Massachusetts knew — or why they left all feed- 

 ing stations by twelve or one each day." 



In April 1940 I received a pair of live evening grosbeaks from Nor- 

 wood, Manitoba. After a few days I noticed how early they roosted 

 for the night. I then noted their times of retirement and measured the 

 light intensity with a Weston illuminometer. In May they roosted 

 on an average 45 minutes before sunset, in theu- 9-foot aviary spruce 

 tree when the light intensity varied between 180 and 60 foot-candles, 

 averaging 135 foot candles. They always fed heavily before retiring. 



As the breeding season advanced, the birds became suddenly 

 insectivorous. Departing from their usual habits, they looked con- 

 tinuously for insects. After June 1, although the female might retire 

 fairly early, the male often kept up his vigilance until after dark. 

 This might not have happened under natural conditions, where insects 

 are more readily available than in an aviary. 



In autumn I made daily observations. About November 1 the 

 birds roosted on an average of 57 minutes before sunset, while various 

 other fringiUids in the garden — cardinals, white-throated sparrows, 

 juncos, and tree sparrows — were still active and feeding, and robins, 

 starlings, and the icterids in the district had not yet flown to their 



646-737— 68— pt. 1 17 



