140 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NAM RAL SCIEN< 1 -. 



sojourn, twenty fine specimens were secured, several of which were 

 dissected for the purpose of further determining the nature of the food 

 <jf this interesting species. "About the middle of December several 

 were observed a short distance north of the city, but it was not until 

 the first of February that they began to court the society of man and 

 appear in the principal streets. When first noticed in the town, there 

 was a tiock of twenty-five or thirty feeding upon the samara, or key- 

 fruits, which were still attached to the branches of the box-elders. The 

 kernels of the keys were quickly and adroitly removed, and the refuse 

 allowed to fall upon the snow beneath, which, after a short time, was 

 thickly strewn with the remains of the feast. On the 23d of February, 

 a flock of over one hundred suddenly appeared on the University 

 campus, and, after remaining an hour or more, departed. From this 

 date until the 30th of April — nearly ten weeks — it was^heir custom to 

 visit the campus and remain until noon, when they would fly away and 

 spend the remainder of the day elsewhere. During their stay, the food 

 of these birds consisted chiefly of the samara of the box-elders and 

 sugar maples, the young leaf-buds of various trees, seeds, and grain; to 

 obtain the latter the whole flock would often alight on the ground and 

 eagerly devour the scattered grain. As spring advanced they were 

 usually seen, especially early in the morning, in the top of some tree, 

 singing or chattering noisily, thus attracting the attention of nearly 

 every passer-by. Their loud, clear, rather harsh, piping notes, uttered 

 in concert, reminded one forcibly of the familiar chorus of the rusty 

 blackbirds in the spring, and have also been likened to the shrill piping 

 rising from some frog-pond on a quiet summer evening."* This species 

 has appeared in the vicinity of Iowa City on two different occasions, 

 February, 1884, and the winter of 1886-7. It is a l so reported from 

 Charles City in March; Grinnell, December, April, and May; and at 

 Burlington in the southeastern part of the State. 



Genus PI NICOLA Vieillot. 

 [B 304, R 166, C 190, U 515.] 

 Pinicola enucleator (Linn.). Pine Grosbeak. Winter visitant; rare. 

 During the winter of 1878-9, a few small flocks appeared in the vicin- 

 ity of Charles City. 



Genus CARPODACUS Kaup. 



[B 305, R 168, C 194, U 517.] 

 Carpodacus purpureas (Gmel.). Purple Finch. Spring and fall mi- 

 grant; abundant. In central Iowa it usually appears about the last of 



*C. R. Keyes, Occurrence of Coccothraustes vesper tina in Iowa. The Auk, Vol. V., p. 114. 

 Abstract of a paper read at the Fifth Meeting of the American Ornithologist's Union, held at 

 Boston, October 11-13, '"^7- 



