GROSBEAKS 369 



day. They seem to proceed more or less by rule, arriving 

 generally from a certain direction, feeding in a general circuit 

 covering certain yards, and finally at the end of each day 

 going away to the same general locality to roost. 



Sometimes for a month the birds will follow this general 

 routine daily, visiting the same places at about the same hours 

 until the food is exhausted. They also eat buds of the maple, 

 elm, birch, apple, mountain ash, elder, pear, poplar, willow and 

 other native trees, and the seeds of birch, hackmatack, pine, 

 fir, spruce and in general almost any of the grass and weed 

 seeds at a pinch. Their prime choice in the free state is seem- 

 ingly crab-apples, mountain ash fruit, pine seeds and maple 

 buds. My captive birds eagerly ate flies, beetles, angle worms, 

 caterpillars and insects of other kinds. 



The calls uttered by the birds are quite variable, each hav- 

 ing its accepted meaning. For example a peculiar querulous 

 whistled "caree" or "c-r-r-r-u" or "ca-r-a-r" is evidently note of 

 warning, for when one of a flock of feeding birds utters it all cease 

 feeding and stand transfixed, looking cautiously about for 

 danger or suddenly taking flight. I have imitated this cry, 

 both when near wild birds and with my own tame birds with 

 always the same result, their repeating the call and looking 

 about for danger. Another call sounding much like "pee-ah" 

 is uttered by the birds when in their undulating flight or 

 when those feeding are calling to others of their kind flying 

 overhead, being evidently a means of calling others to a locality 

 or of announcing their whereabouts. A variation of this call 

 often uttered when a bird has just alighted, it is seemingly 

 always a male that utters this particular call, sounds like a 

 warbled "pee-ah-pree-pu," also designed to call others to the 

 spot. When feeding they keep up a low whistled conversation 

 among themselves. 



Though it is a pleasure to watch a flock of these warmly 

 clothed, plump, robust birds feeding cheerfully on a cold winter 

 morning, the real pleasure of knowing them has not been reached 



