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



feeding shelf at my study window, almost within an arm's reach as I 

 sit at my desk, and have kept it supplied with sunflower seed, hemp 

 seed, cracked nuts, peanuts, scratch feed, and other mixed bird food. 



"During winters that they are here they flock to the shelf, often in 

 such numbers that there is hardly any standing room; as long as there 

 is room for one more to crowd in they come and gobble up the food, 

 with a decided preference for the sunflower seeds; these they crack open 

 very skillfully with their big beaks, swallow the kernel and let the shells 

 fall where they may, which leaves quite a mess for me to clean up. When 

 the gi'osbeaks are here in large numbers they consume an enormous 

 amount of these seeds, involving considerable trouble and expense to 

 keep the greedy birds satisfied, but they are worth it. 



"Francis H. Orcutt, of Penn Yan, N.Y., writes to me on this point: 

 'Other bird students with feeding stations report that the grosbeaks 

 are eating them out of house and home. At first, one or two birds be- 

 gan feeding, now I have 40. With sunflower seeds at 49 cents a pound, 

 I cannot afford to feed them much longer.' 



"During some winters these birds are seen in enormous numbers, 

 hundreds or even thousands of them ; some seasons, we see only a few, 

 and in other years none at all. Probably the abundance or scarcity of 

 food supply may explain this irregularity." 



Mr. Bent refers the reader to : Butler (1892), Elon H. Eaton (1914), 

 Arthur H. Norton (1918), Bagg and Eliot (1937), and Brackbill (1947) 

 for records of invasions of this race from Wisconsin to New Brunswick, 

 in the years since the discovery of the species. For a very complete pic- 

 ture of the years 1950-1955, the reader is referred to "Evening Gros- 

 beak Survey News," edited by Dr. and Mrs. B. M. Shaub, which tells 

 of the penetration of the grosbeaks south to Georgia. 



Some winters, as in 1956-57, the grosbeaks stay north and only a 

 comparatively few appear south of the 45th parallel. The evening 

 grosbeak is well equipped to resist the cold, for beneath the contour 

 plumage is a warm gray down. It wears its own "eiderdown" for the 

 same reason that the eider duck wears his — insulation against the cold. 

 The feet are very short, so short that they may be tucked under the 

 feathers in cold weather. The unfeathered part of the leg is cov- 

 ered in the front with scales or scutellae. The underside of the feet, 

 including the toes, are padded with tylari, corneous cushions in ridges, 

 which give the feet grip on icy branches, leading J. Murray Speirs to 

 comment: "The grosbeaks are equipped with their own snow tires." 



One morning in North Bay, Ontario, when the temperature was 35° 

 below zero, anxious to find out what the grosbeaks did on an ex- 

 tremely cold day, I went out. A flock of 12 were located, feeding on 

 Manitoba maples. Above each bill, the breath of the bird could be 

 seen like a little wreath. All were males. My notes read: I noted 



