THE WESTERN EVENING GROSBEAK. 65 
General Range.—Western United States and Northern Mexico; east to and 
including Rocky Mountains; north to British Columbia. 
Range in Washington.—Co-extensive with evergreen timber and appearing 
irregularly elsewhere. Resident within State but roving locally. Winters regu- 
larly in parks of the larger cities. 
Authorities.—? Fringilla vespertina ‘Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 
VIII. 1839, 154 (Columbia R.). Hesperiphona vespertina Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 
Surv. IX. 1858, 409. T. C&S. Ra. Kk. B. E. 
Specimens.—U. of W. P'. Prov. B. E. 
SPARROWS are also called Cone-bills ; it is, therefore, fair that the bird 
with the biggest cone should take precedence in a family history. But for this 
primacy there are damaging limitations. The Grosbeak is neither the most 
beautiful nor the most tuneful of the Fringillide, if he is by common consent 
rated the oddest. His garb is a patchwork; his song a series of shrieks; his 
motions eccentric; his humor phlegmatic; and his concepts beyond the ken 
of man. Altho at times one of the most approachable of birds, he is, on the 
whole, an avian freak, a rebus in feathers. 
Perhaps we make too much of a mystery of him, just as we rate the owl 
highest in wisdom for the single discretion of silence, which any dunderhead 
may attain. But now take this group in the. park; just what are they at? 
They sit there stolidly in the rowan tree where all the passersby may take note 
of them, giving vent ever and anon to explosive yelps, but doig nothing by 
the hour, until an insane impulse seizes one of their number to be off to some 
other scene no better, be it near or far, and the rest yield shrieking consent by 
default of alternative idea. It is all so unreasonable, so uncanny, that it 
irritates us. 
Evening Grosbeaks are semi-gregarious the year around, but are seen to 
best advantage in winter or early spring, when they flock closely and visit 
city parks or wooded lawns. One is oftenest attracted to their temporary 
quarters by the startling and disconnected noises which are flung out broad- 
cast. It may be that the flock is absorbed in the depths of a small fir, so that 
one may come up near enough to analyze the sound. Three sorts of notes are 
plainly distinguishable: a low murmuring of pure tones, quite pleasant to the 
ear; a harsh but subdued rattle, or alarm note, wesst or weesp, familiarly 
similar to that of the Crossbill; and the high-pitched shriek, which dis- 
tinguishes the bird from all others, dimp. <A little attention brings to light 
the fact that all the birds in the flock bring out this astonishing note at 
precisely the same pitch. Once distinguished, this note will serve again and 
again to draw attention to this uncanny fowl, as it passes overhead or loses 
itself in the bosom of some giant conifer. 
