THE OOLOGIST. 



Solomon says Evening Grosbeaks fly East- 

 ward- And They Fly. 



TIu' )):ist winter will be lenu'iuljered 

 for M>iiH' tinu' 1)3' ornithologists of the 

 Eus'.i-rn States as one in which the 

 Eve. ling Grosijeak flew well bej-ond its 

 hounds and made itself known in the 

 East. 



This bird is a bird of Western Nortli 

 America, Ijcing most common between 

 the Rocky Mountains and the Pacilic 

 ("oast: It moves irregularly eastward 

 in winter to Michigan, Wisconsin and 

 Illinois, but this past winter reports of 

 its being taken in many parts of New 

 England and the East are i-ommon. 



Following arc a few instances sent 

 us: — 



The Ev( ning (Grosbeak has been 

 co.nmon about here this winter. They 

 seem to have l)een driven east liy the 

 strong gales we have had latelj'. 



In the early part of the winter I came 

 a^^-ross a flock of about 80, picking the 

 seeds out of decayed apples still on the 

 trees. Would like to know whether 

 any Evening (irosl)eaks have been 

 observed in unusual ])aits in the East. 

 (.1. Leslie, 

 Hamilton, Out., Can. 



On the 22nd of January my brother 

 shot two Evening Grosbeaks on our 

 grounds, a male and a female both in 

 very line plumage, and on the 28th of 

 February 1 shot another, a female 

 within a few feet of where the others 

 were shot. Their stomachs all contain- 

 ed the kernel of the seed of the wild 

 cheri'y. Four others were taken and 

 several more .seen in February in the 

 city 



F. H. Farley, 

 8t. Thomas, Out. 



'T have received a line pair of Even- 

 ing Grosbeaks — the flrst 1 have ever 

 seen in Vermont. 



S. O. BuusH, 

 Chittenilen Co., Vt. 



On Feb. 11, 1890, while in Jordan, N. 

 Y., a bird lighted in a tree nearly over 

 mj" head, which on second glance prov- 

 ed to be a female Evening Grosl)eak 

 {Coccothanstes vespcrtijia). Luck was 

 j against me though, for before I could 

 get a shotgun the bus with bells on the 

 horses went lumbering along and my 

 bird (so the boy said tliat was watching 

 her) flew toward the "Other Side of 

 Jordan" and in a three-hoiu's si-arch, I 

 failed to And hei-; but as there are lots 

 of large Spruce trees in the \ illagc she 

 might easily' have escaped my observa- 

 tion. I have skins in my cabinet of 

 (male and tVniale) (if this s])ccics and 

 am positive as to the identity. 



E. G. Taboi{, 

 Cayuga Co., N. Y. 



Cowbird Sitting on Eggs. 



In reply to R. C. Alexander's query 

 in March Ooloui.st, I w'.U relate an 

 incident in the life of a "Parasite," as 

 the Cowbird is often called. 



One l)right, warm and summer day 

 of 1889, I had taken my collecting \;o\ 

 and gun (for it was unsafe to go into 

 the thicdcet to which 1 was bound, with- 

 out a gun on account of the large 

 pol)idation of tiiat dread to every body 

 — Mcp/iitL-i Di'.'pliitic.d) and h:ul proceed 

 ed aijout half way through this den.se 

 20-acre Ihicki't, when m3' attention was 

 attracted ijy the cries of some small 

 bird. I proceedcil very slowly and 

 carefully, determined to And out the 

 cause of this uproar. I had not pro- 

 ceeded very far, when, as I approached 

 a clump of l)!ackberry vines, I saw 

 some small bird dart awny in the 

 woods. 



Searching through tiiis clump of vines 

 I saw a Cowbird sitting upon ou a nest 

 in a small bush. Here, then was the 

 solution as to what undoubtably caused 

 the uprcnir, for it was proljaI)ly the nest 

 of this small bird upon which the Cow- 

 bird was sitting. The Cowbird flew ott' 

 as soon as I approached the nest. It 



