*9. EVENING GROSBEAK (Hesperiphona 

 vespertina vespertina). A regular visitant each 

 year from its summer home in the far north, but 

 its abundance varies greatly in different seasons. 

 It is rather local in is distribution, flocks estab- 

 lishing themselves in localities where food is 

 plenty and remaining there often through the 

 winter. It usually arrives in little parties which 

 seem to assemble and merge toward spring, when 

 flocks of a hundred or more may sometimes be 

 encountered. They are tame and unsuspicious 

 and enter towns and cities without fear. Their 

 food is chiefly such seeds and small fruits as re- 

 main hanging on trees and shrubs, the keys of 

 the box-elder forming a very considerable part 

 of their diet. Their notes while here are a clear 

 loud pipe and a weak screaming effort which 

 when uttered in unison by a large flock in early 

 spring produce a curious medley not unlike the 

 piping of a lot of frogs. The early dates at 

 which they sometimes arrive in Minnesota and 

 the lateness of their departure in the spring are 

 surprising when the distance they must travel to 

 and from their remote nesting places is consid- 

 ered. The earliest and latest dates are: Sept. 6. 

 1915, Isanti county (Lawrence Lofstrom), and 

 May 18, 1879, Minneapolis (T. S. Roberts). 



The large, thick-set, greenish bill will serve to 

 distinguish this bird in any plumage. The spring 

 male with his dress of glossy black, white, yel- 

 low and dusky olive is a strikingly handsome fel- 

 low. 



*10. PINE GROSBEAK (Pinicola enucleator 

 leucura). A regular though never very numerous 

 visitant to the northern part of the state, but 

 further south it appears only infrequently and 

 usually in flocks of but a few individuals. An 

 exceptional occurrence was its presence in and 

 about Minneapolis in the winter of 1874-1875 in 

 considerable numbers, and again in the winter of 

 1880-1881. It makes its appearance in the south- 

 ern part of the state in the latter part of Novem- 

 ber or early in December, and retires northward 

 in March (Minneapolis, Mar. 13, 1875; Mar. 7, 

 1879). They have a mellow, sweet whistle and 

 while here utter low subdued snatches of a pleas- 

 ing song. Their food consists largely of sumach 

 berries, mountain-ash berries, highbush cranber- 

 ries, etc. It is the seeds, not the pulp, of these 

 berries that they eat and this Grosbeak is as 

 expert in removing the pulp of the high-bush 

 cranberries and cracking open the single large 

 flat seed that they contain, as is the Evening 

 Grosbeak, with its clumsy looking bill, in its man- 

 ipulation of the keys of the box elder to remove 

 intact the meaty kernel within. 



The Pine Grosbeak is a little less in size than 

 the Robin. Most of the individuals of a flock 

 are slate-colored, overlaid on the breast and rump 



with brassy yellow or reddish. These are the 

 females and immature males, but there are usual- 

 ly a few old males resplendent and conspicuous 

 in a full dress of carmine red. The bill is short 

 and stout; the tail forked. 



11. HOARY REDPOLL (Acanthis horne- 

 manni exilipes). Has been reported thus far 

 only from three localities in the state: Kittson 

 county, by Peabody; Otter Tail county, by Bark- 

 er, and Isanti county, by Lofstrom. Said to be 

 common some winters in the northwestern part 

 of the state and absent others. 



To be distinguished from the next, our common 

 Redpoll, by its generally whiter appearance, un- 

 streaked rump, and sparingly marked under parts. 



*12. REDPOLL (Acanthis linaria linaria). A 



regular and usually abundant winter visitant, re- 

 maining in large flocks throughout the coldest 

 seasons. They frequent weedy fields and pastures 

 and tamarack swamps. It is a cheery, spritely 

 little bird with pleasing notes and unsuspicious 

 character. They appear in the southern part of 

 the state about the first of November and remain 

 until April (Minneapolis April 18, 1875). 



The Redpoll is about the size of a canary, 5J 

 inches long, with a black chin patch and a crim- 

 son crown patch, while the male in full plumage 

 is distinguished by a delicate rose-red flush over 

 the entire breast. 



A sub-species, somewliat larger and stouter, 

 known as the *GREATER REDPOLL (Acanthis 

 linaria rostrata) has been taken in northwestern 

 Minnesota by Peabody and at Minneapolis in 

 February and March of 1890 by Fred Cook (speci- 

 mens in survey collection). 



*13. SNOW BUNTING (Plectrophanes nival- 

 is nivalis). Common in large flocks, usually most 

 abunfiant in late fall and early spring durin.g the 

 vast movements across the state to and from 

 the prairie regions south of us. A beautiful and 

 fascinating sight is a great flock of hundreds 

 of Snowflakes whirling and eddying about, in the 

 intricate aerial evolutions in which they seem to 

 delight. One moment they are a flashing, glitter- 

 ing spectacle, the next with a sudden turn they 

 all but disappear from view, to reappear in an in- 

 stant like a great shimmering mantle. This sight 

 was much more frequent in Southeastern Minne- 

 sota many years ago than it is today, for the 

 Snow Bunting is, for some reason, much less 

 common than formerly. Perhaps the vast weedy 

 cornfields of Iowa lure them further south of 

 late years. 



The first of the Snowflakes arrive in southern 

 Minnesota from the middle to the last of October 

 (Minneapolis, Oct. 16, 1875) and the last pass 

 northward in April, though stragglers may be 

 encountered as late as May (Minneapolis, May 

 14, 1875; May 5, 1876). 



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