EASTERN EVENING GROSBEAK 233 



Leucocytozoon. Wenyon in Hamerton (1937) also lists Trypanosoma 

 as a protozoal parasite in this species. Plasmodium, the malaria 

 parasite, has been reported in a captive bird (Hamerton, 1939) 

 wrongly attributed to HaemoproUus (Herman, 1944). 



Despite these records, internal parasitism in the species is rare. 

 A. M. Fallis examined blood slides from several banded Ontario gros- 

 beaks captured in Algonquin Park, 1945-48, and the smears were 

 negative. Mary S. Shaub of Northampton, Mass., who has banded so 

 many of these birds, considers them "especially healthy" (letter). 

 She has written me of another bander, Dorothy Driscoll of Brookhne, 

 Mass., who made blood smears from grosbeaks during an invasion 

 recently and "found only one infection in 100 smears." 



Age. — As yet no one has analyzed the wealth of banding data now 

 available to determine the evening grosbeak's probable longevity or 

 its rates of mortality and survival in the wild. M. J. Magee (1939) re- 

 ported retaking three of his banded birds in their 9th year. Elizabeth 

 Holt Downs at her home in Vermont banded a grosbeak July 11, 1956 

 as an adult female. This bird returned regularly and was at least 

 10 years old when she recaptured it June 10, 1965. 



H. R. Ivor probably has the longevity record for an aviary bird 

 of this species. Some years ago he received from Winnipeg a hand- 

 some adult female of unknown age which he named "Beauty." I 

 knew the bird well. She lived in his bird observatory 16}^ years and 

 was therefore at least 17 years old when she died. 



Fall. — In the autumn, adults and young are "on the move." Their 

 long wings — longer in relation to body-size than those of any other 

 finch — make them well equipped for extensive journeyings. 



Until recent years, little was known about this bird's habits in the 

 fall; but since it has moved eastward as a breeding species, it has been 

 appearing in populated regions in some years, notably in 1957, early 

 in the fall, and is therefore being observed more frequently. The 

 birds show no interest in feeding stations at this time and are reported 

 more often in box elder trees than in any other kind. K. F. Edwards 

 reported that on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, October 1 1- 

 16, 1957, a flock of 15 was feeding on cherry pits, another favored 

 food. Louise de KirUine Lawi-ence saw five on Oct. 19, 1944, at 

 Rutherglen, Ontario: "They were eating cone seeds in the tops of 

 coniferous trees." On November 14, she watched two settle in an 

 aspen and sample the buds. On Oct. 27, 1947, she saw others bud- 

 ding in a poplar. Thus, on occasion, this species is a fall as well as 

 a spring budder. 



Winter. — Mr. Bent has written: "It is when the gTosbeaks come to 

 our feeding trays in winter that we become intimately acquainted with 

 them and their traits. For a number of years I have maintained a 



