238 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 paut i 



Rancho La Brea Pleistocene at Los Angeles. William R. Dawson 

 (1948) informs us that "Comparison with a specimen of the modern 

 Evening Grosbeak, shows it to be identical in every detail." 



When Joseph Grinnell (1917) described this race from British 

 Columbia and named it in honor of Major Allan Brooks, he gave it 

 the following diagnosis: 



Bill thick as in vespertina, but longer and hence relatively slenderer; slightly 

 less slender on an average than in calif ornica and warreni*, but decidedly thicker 

 than in montana. Color-tone of body of male decidedly the darkest as compared 

 with all the other subspecies; as a result, line of demarcation between black cap 

 and hind neck not sharply defined. Frontal yellow bar of male averaging much 

 broader than in any other subspecies except warreni and vespertina, and but 

 slightly narrower than in the latter form. Color-tone of body of female darker 

 than in any other subspecies; more sooty on top of head and back, and darker 

 brown beneath; decidedly less ashy about head and on lower surface than in 

 vespertina, most nearly as in californica. 



According to the 1957 A.O.U. Check-List, it breeds and is largely 

 resident from north-central and southeastern British Columbia, west- 

 ern Montana, western Wyoming, and central Colorado, south through 

 the mountains to northwestern and central eastern California, north 

 eastern Nevada, central Arizona and central southern New Mexico. 

 It winters from southern interior and southwestern British Columbia, 

 south to southern California, southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, 

 and western Texas; east to South Dakota and Oklahoma. 



Spring. — ^From her cabin in the Driftwood Valley by Tetana Lake, 

 British Columbia, Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher (1946) wrote in her 

 journal under the date of Apr. 17, 1938: "One day when we were cross- 

 ing the meadow we saw an evening grosbeak on a tall spruce. The 

 black and yellow velvet of its markings, the heavy pale blue bill, 

 were unmistakable. We were wildly excited at this remarkable 

 visitor * * * and J. tried, without success, to collect it." Farther 

 south in their range, the birds are not so rare. Fred G. Evenden, 

 Jr., Woodburn, Oreg., wrote to Mr. Bent: 



"Every spring this species appears on the campus of Oregon State 

 College in flocks approaching several thousand in number. The 

 reason for this is that the campus walks and streets are corridors of 

 elms that are beginning to bud out at that time. The flocks remain 

 approximately 2 months on these visits, building up from a small 

 number to an abundance peak about the first of May, or the middle 

 of the 2-month period. They are year-round residents of the higher 

 forested hills of the Coast Range in the western part of Benton 

 County." 



♦The forms californica and warreni were later synonymized with brooksi 

 (A.O.U. Check-List, 1931). 



