368 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



When the young hatched I fed them v/ith several kinds of 

 fruit and seeds, taking care not to alarm the mother bird and 

 giving but a small quantity each day. There were two males 

 and two females in this nest for their difference in plumage 

 was well marked when they began to use their wings." 



In answer to a letter written to Miss Maddox asking for 

 particulars regarding the above notes which appeared in a 

 local paper she writes me as follows— "In reply to your inquiry 

 for further information about the Grosbeak's nest I will say 

 that by searching some old records kept while laboring at the 

 Mission I find that the incubation was completed on May 27, 

 being the thirteenth day after the fourth and last egg of the 

 clutch appeared in the nest. The female bird as far as I could 

 learn did all the sitting. Several times I surprised the male 

 bringing her food and saw her leave the nest and receive it 

 from him, near but never on the nest. Both parent birds fed 

 the fledglings after they left the nest, which occurred the 

 twentieth day after they were hatched. 



The male sang mornings during incubation, but not near the 

 nest, his favorite perch being the top of a cedar tree several 

 rods away. Sometimes after the young appeared he would 

 alight on the same perch and utter a few soft clear notes, 

 but his songs were fewer and shorter for the young seemed 

 always hungry. These birds were much less timid than our 

 native birds. I could sit near their nest for hours without 

 their taking alarm if I kept still. I never drove them from 

 their nest to examine it, but watched my chance when the 

 female went to stretch her wings, as she did each morning 

 during incubation." Judging from Miss Maddox's account 

 and from my own experience with captive birds of this species 

 the eggs are laid in May or June. 



In winter the favorite food seems to be the pulp and seeds 

 of crab-apples and mountain ash, and winters when they are 

 common a flock of ten or a dozen can usually be found feasting 

 on the fruit of these trees during the warmer portions of the 



