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



Charles W. Michael, whom we visited at Yosemite the summer of 

 1939, had seen many nests, the earliest on May 10, 1925. A number 

 were in yellow pines; one was high up in a KeUogg oak. Only one 

 nest was less than 40 feet above the ground; two were 100 feet up. 

 Edward B. Andrews collected the first evening grosbeak nest and eggs 

 in Colorado in early July 1904, within the western limits of Estes 

 Park, Larimer County (see F. M, Dille, 1904), at an elevation of 

 7,800 feet. Andrews wrote on July 4 of that year (MS.): "Saw this 

 nest in a yellow pine tree up the gulch on June 24. It was a nervous 

 climb and 40 feet from the ground and I found the nest not completed. 

 I then thought it an old one. Today being near there, nest looked 

 larger and I threw up a stick, a bird flew out and swooped off in the 

 brush so quickly I did not recognize it. From the direction she went, 

 there came back the whistle of a grosbeak, and the climb this time 

 did not scare me in the least. I found four eggs in the nest." 



Clifford V. Davis (1953) has told of the first nest reported for the 

 State of Montana: "On July 3, 1952, a nest with five partly grown 

 young was found by the ornithology class from Montana State 

 College while they were on a field trip. Both parent birds stayed 

 within a few feet of the nest while it was being inspected. The 

 nest was about 45 feet from the ground in a dense stand of Douglas 

 fir {Pseudotsuga taxifolia). It was composed almost entirely of 

 Douglas fir twigs and was lined with a few rootlets and two horsehairs. 

 The nest was located about four miles north and east of Bozeman, 

 GaUatin County, at an altitude of about 4800 feet." 



When I was in Nevada in late April, 1939, Thomas Trelease, of 

 Sparks, took me up Slide Mountain to show me the western evening 

 grosbeak's nest he had found 6 feet up in the willow thicket at the 

 lake's edge. The nest was so loosely constructed that the three eggs 

 could be observed from below. According to Thomas, the eggs "were 

 like robins' but slightly splotched." The nest also suggested a 

 robin's in size but was "real loose." 



Of three nests Francis J. Birtwell (1901) found near Willis, N. Mex., 

 in the Pecos River Forest Reserve, one was in a large pine, the other 

 two in spruces, 41 and 46 feet from the ground, respectively. He 

 remarked about the nest-building: "* * * certain it is that the Eve- 

 ning Grosbeak puts little work into the building of her nest. The 

 outside is of a few coarse sticks. Usnea is wadded together next 

 and fine rootlets make the lining." 



J. K. Jensen (1930) found a nest in Santa Fe Canyon, N. Mex., 

 on June 29, 1930, of which he writes: "The nest was located about 

 35 feet up in a Douglas fu*, on a six-foot hmb and about two feet from 

 the main tree trunk. * * * The nest — five inches across, was very 

 loosely made of twigs, but with a distinct depression one inch deep 



