246 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 pakt i 



This unpredictable bird during the winter feeds on the seeds of the boxelder and 

 black locust; at other times it ma}'^ visit the surrounding mountain slopes where it 

 can eat its fill of juniper berries and pinyon nuts. 



Alfred M. Bailey (MS.) writes of their food habits in the Denver, 

 Colo., region: "They are partial to the seeds of the box elder, the 

 fruits of the ornamental trees and shrubs, buds of wiUows and the 

 green tips of maples, and they will visit feeding trays as long as sun- 

 flower seeds are provided." 



J. A. Munro sent me specific records of the food being taken at 

 Okanagan, British Columbia, in the various months of the year. 

 The winter foods noted were seeds of box elder, chokecherry, white 

 ash, and apple. In May, 10 birds were feeding on old seeds of the 

 black locust. In June a flock fed on green box elder seeds. Several 

 flocks in Vernon ate green elm seeds. Of August he writes: "A 

 flock, probably comprising several families, visited tops of the 

 tallest firs and seemed to be eating seeds from the cones." In Septem- 

 ber a small flock of young took green black-locust seeds. In October 

 several fed on the berries of the red hawthorne. 



Zella McMannama (1948) contributes an unusual observation. She 

 says: 



Comparatively little has been written about the animal food of this species; 

 hence it seems worthwhile to record the following observations. 



On May 28, 1945, my attention was attracted by the unmistakable calls of a 

 flock of these birds in the second-growth fir woods south of the Western Wash- 

 ington College campus at BelUngham. While attempting to locate the birds, 

 I saw one fly out and capture an insect after the manner of a cedar waxwing 

 {Bomhycilla cedrorum). In a moment another bird flew out, and as it turned, 

 the white secondaries of the male evening grosbeak were conspicuous. The 

 entire flock engaged for some minutes in feeding upon large flies which were in 

 great abundance above the trees. Frequently the birds missed their quarry, 

 and one made three successive stoops at the same insect, finally following it out 

 of sight among the firs. This is the first time I had observed evening grosbeaks 

 feeding upon insects. 



Ira N. Gabrielson (1924) made a careful study of the food habits of 

 evening grosbeaks from examination of the stomach contents of 127 

 specimens, a good number of which were of the western race. He 

 writes: 



No trace of animal matter was found in the 88 winter stomachs, seeds and fruit 

 constituting the entire contents. Seeds of wild fruits formed 39.63 per cent; 

 winged seeds (maple, ash, and box elder) 37.96 per cent; coniferous seeds, 14.5 per 

 cent; and miscellaneous seeds, mast and rubbish, the remainder. The most 

 important seeds of wild fruits in the food for this period were cherry pits (Prunus), 

 found in 23 stomachs and amounting to 17.48 per cent of the total food; dogwood 

 (Cornus), identified in 63 stomachs, 13.77 per cent; mountain-ash {Sorbus), taken 

 from 13 stomachs, 3.82 per cent; and snowberry (Symphoricarpos) in 11 stomachs, 

 forming 1.77 per cent of the food of the 88 birds. Of the winged seeds, ash seeds 

 (Fraxinus) were found in 4; maple (Acer) in 30; and box elder (Acer negundo) in 



