THE OOLOGIST. 



75 



patch of this same color covers under 

 tail coverts. 



The bill is rather short, though far 

 less so than many of the Grosbeaks. 

 The culmen measures live-eighths inch. 

 The female is almost uniformly of an 

 olive brown color with chestnut under 

 tail coverts; the wing quills and tail 

 feathers are dark brown, almost black, 

 but edged with the same color brown 

 as the rest of the plumage. The young 

 of both sexes resemble the female. 



The flight is slightly bounding with 

 successive, strong, separate strokes. 

 The song reminds one forcibly of an 

 exaggerated edition of the Song Spar- 

 row's and the alarm notes are sparrow- 

 like. I have he^rd the song just before 

 twilight when the resemblance to that 

 of the Song Sparrow was quite strik- 

 ing. Their food is largely vegetable, 

 but probably insects make up some 

 part of it. In a hasty review of my 

 note book I find record only of seeds 

 and budH, but I am quite sure I have 

 examined stomachs containing insect 

 remains. 



The female Grosbeak is much shyer 

 than the male and I have never had a 

 good opportunity of watching her ways. 

 The male is often found feeding on the 

 hillsides and among the bushes without 

 one being able to find the least trace of 

 a female near. 



The nesting habits I know only by 

 one nest found on June 15, 1900, in a 

 narrow bushy pass between two hills 

 near Aguadilla. It was built at an ele- 

 vation of about 8 feet; placed in a 

 clump of twigs against the body of a 

 small tree. In appearance it was much 

 like an enlarged edition of the nest of 

 Euthia bicolor, being bell-&haped with 

 entrance in the side. It was composed 

 of weed and vine stems, dead leaves, 

 and skeletons of leaves, and measured 

 externally 7x3 inches in depth, the lat- 

 ter measurement being to lower edge 

 of entrance, the former to top of dome, 

 — and 6i inches in diameter. The in- 



side dimensions were: Depth, 2 inches; 

 diameter, 3 inches. 



The eggs were three in number and I 

 sent nest and eggs to the U. S. Nation- 

 al Museum without taking measure- 

 ments or description, so must describe 

 from memory. They were fresh and I 

 should say about the size of the Car- 

 dinals', of a light blue ground, and 

 quite evenly and thickly sprinkled with 

 fine dots of reddish brown. 



On June 13, 1900, I secured near this 

 same spot a young female in immature 

 plumage. Stomach's contents were 

 small round weed seeds. 



B. S. BOWDISH. 



Pan-American Notes. 



If ycu don't know just where to go 

 next summer you can't make any m is- 

 take in going to the Pan-American Ex- 

 position. 



The superb collections made in the 

 far northwest by the Alaska Geograph- 

 ical Society will possibly be shown at 

 the Pan American Exposition. 



The best mineral exhibit ever made 

 by Canada will be seen at Ihe Pan- 

 American Exposition. Mine owners 

 and nrospectors are giving the Bureau 

 of Mines hearty co-operation in their 

 collection of specimens for this display. 



The Bird Protective Association of 

 America proposes to make an exhibit 

 at the Pan-American Exposition which 

 will be of great interest and general 

 value to all agriculturists, particularly 

 those interested in the forest and shade 

 trees. The exhibit will consist of in- 

 fected sections of various kinds of trees 

 on which will be mounted the destroy- 

 ing insects in their various stages of de- 

 velopment, and the birds that devour 

 them. 



The bird and insect life will be repre- 

 sented in a natural way, thereby illus- 

 trating the great value of bird life to 

 all forms of vegetation. It will be the 

 first exhibit of this nature ever made at 

 an exposition, and it is intended to 

 make it a most useful feature of the 

 Pan-American. 



