EASTERN EVENING GROSBEAK 229 



Keyes (1888) describes his impressions: "As spring advanced they 

 were usually seen, especially early in the morning, in the top of some 

 tree, singing or chattering noisily, thus attracting the attention of 

 nearly every passer-by. Their loud, clear, rather harsh, piping notes, 

 uttered in concert, reminded one forcibly of the familiar chorus of 

 a flock of Kusty Blackbirds in the spring, and have also been hkened 

 to the shrill piping arising from some frog pond on a quiet summer 

 evening." 



Francis H. Allen contributed the following to Mr. Bent; "The 

 most characteristic call note I describe as a sort of prrrreej), or rolling 

 whistle, with a clear ringing quality. This note, when heard in chorus, 

 strongly suggests sleigh bells." Harrison F. Lewis (MS.) adds: "A 

 note resembling that of the cedar waxwing, although somewhat louder. 

 This is uttered when the birds are quiet and at ease." 



Butler (1898) gives the male birds the credit for most of the noise: 

 "The males have a loud call-note, a sharp, metallic cry like the note 

 of a trumpet, which they utter frequently when excited. The females 

 chatter like Bohemian Waxwings." My own observations force the 

 conclusion that the female is more loquacious than the male and is 

 often the noisier of the two. Once when I listened to a pair for half 

 an hour, all the sounds, the shrill piping grosbeak notes, came from 

 the female. 



The call or flocking note, pete or p-Uer, is the most characteristic 

 note the species utters. It is very shrill and has considerable carry- 

 ing power, which must help the various members of the flocks to 

 keep in touch with one another. Individual birds feeding as units of 

 a widely scattered flock call p-teer frequently, thus revealing their 

 positions to their companions. 



The evening grosbeak's chirp resembles the house sparrow's and 

 many times I have been fooled by this resemblance. Sometimes 

 there is quite a similarity between the grosbeak note and the peet 

 call note of the robin. 



The chorus-song is a purple finch-like chip-chip-choo-wee, or chip- 

 ip-chu-wee-er. A surprisingly lovely harmony comes from a mixed 

 choir, as both sexes join in the singing. On the day that I saw my 

 first evening grosbeaks and heard their music I wrote: "Now the 

 grosbeaks are talking together with a tender, tinkling sweetness, 

 very musical and gentle, a liquid loveliness." 



Usually in March individual males are heard singing their whisper-song, 

 chip-ip-chu-wee-er. As the season advances, the phrases are heard 

 many times in full strength and sung by both sexes. For several 

 years we considered this the true song of the evening grosbeak. 

 Then, one day in late April of 1941, at the University of Illinois Vi- 

 varium, our male bird, "Vesper," sang a song which we had not 



