7;Q0 BiRTWELL. Nesting Habits of Eve>iing Grosbeak. Foct' 



climbing to get to my Grosbeak's nest so we merely watched the 

 wonderful avian life going on about us in the musical, deep-voiced 

 pines. 



The Grosbeaks were all silent and came into the trees from 

 distances. At times the coaxing voices of the females were heard 

 and a shrill whistle or two, but the silence was noticeable. I 

 found two more nests (Grosbeak's), one at the end of a spruce 

 limb near the others, the other similarly placed but farther back 

 some hundreds of yards. The birds were seen on and off the 

 nests at various times. The nest of the great pine, taken for the 

 nest of Habia melanocephala, had the bird sitting. With shot I cut 

 the twigs off all about, but she merely elevated her head. The 

 climb is risky and I am married. Unless I am forced I shall not 

 attempt to collect the set but will secure specimens of young later 

 on. 



June 26. — The actions of the Grosbeaks assured us that the 

 sets of eggs were complete and should be taken without further 

 delay. Accordingly this morning we went to the spruce tree 

 where the nest was discovered June 20, as recorded in the notes 

 for that day. The male bird approached the vicinity of the nest 

 several times as we prepared for the climb, uttering his sharp call, 

 and the female answered, at intervals, with her querulous note 

 from the nest. 



The tree was about seven feet in circumference and studded for 

 some distance from the ground with short, barkless limbs, of 

 which some would support a man's weight and some had to be 

 chopped off in making the ascent. Measurements showed the 

 height of the nest above the ground to be 41 feet. The birds 

 had evidently selected the location of their domicile with a view 

 to doing as little work as possible. It was visible from no direc- 

 tion but the one from which we had discovered it and was placed 

 flatly upon the horizontal branch with a smaller fork propping it 

 on one side and heavy clusters of needles surrounding it. It was 

 composed of flimsy material and a very little of it, the floor so 

 thin as to barely cover the underlying branch. 



From the only resting-place, the fork made by the tree-trunk 

 and the branch next above the one on which the nest rested, Mr. 

 Birtwell scooped the eggs, one by one, from the nest with a tiny 



