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



of the drama. A pair of these birds came winging over the meadow. 

 At the edge of the meadow the birds came to perch in the branches 

 of a great Kellogg oak. No sooner had the pair settled than the 

 female was accosted by a second male who was akeady in the tree. 

 The female was loyal to her escort and spurned the overtures of the 

 fresh male. The escort showed fierce resentment toward his rival 

 and the two males tangled on the spot. They clinched bill to bill 

 and a rough and tumble fight was on. 



"As they wrestled, shoved, and tugged they often lost their balance 

 and tumbled down a few feet before gaining fresh foothold on some 

 lower branch. They pulled no feathers nor did they scratch, but 

 they held like fury bill to bill. In their fierce tussle they finally fell 

 free of the lowest branch and came tumbling through the air like a 

 spinning pin-wheel. A thump on the ground failed to loosen the 

 grip and they rolled over and over, first one on top and then the other. 

 This struggle on the ground lasted 2 minutes by the watch and then 

 the birds separated and took to wing as though not in the least bit 

 winded by the long battle. Pursued and pursuer disappeared through 

 the treetops and it was not determined which had been the victor, 

 the escort or the interloper. In any event the female * * * seemed 

 quite willing to await the return of the victorious one whoever he 

 might be." 



Voice. — Herbert Brandt (1951), listening to a large flock when it 

 was feeding, writes with appreciation of this grosbeak's voice: "All 

 the whUe when feeding it keeps up an uninterrupted flock chatter of 

 a mellow nature, a variety of notes just as though the members of 

 the group were in conversation, which perhaps they are. In that 

 case they are full of gossip, but of the pleasant kind, for not once 

 was there any indication of a fighting spirit. * * * The notes have 

 wide variety and intonation, are rather subdued, and without any 

 harsh quality." 



While listening to a pair in the Bridger Range of the Galatin Na- 

 tional Forest, Mont., in 1953, we heard some sweet notes, but these 

 were the quietest. Loud cheeps were given with churr notes follow- 

 ing, and a number of really harsh churr-churr notes were heard, as 

 well as the far-carrying call p-teer which rang across the valley. 



Enemies. — Occasionally the evening grosbeak is a link in the pred- 

 ator-prey food chain. J. A. Munro (1929) reports seeing an adult 

 goshawk carrying an evening grosbeak. "Instances of goshawks 

 attacking the smaller bird species," he writes, "are comparatively 

 rare in the writer's experience." 



J. T. Marshall, Jr. (1942), in a list of animals eaten by the spotted 

 owl (Strix occidentalis) based on stomach contents, includes one 

 evening grosbeak. Maj. Allan Brooks wrote to me in 1942: "I once 



