jgg^^n Brewster on the Pine Grosbeak. 2^1 



screams and flutterings of my victim started his companions at 

 once. They would return, however, as soon as I walked away, 

 and sometimes while I was still engaged in freeing the captive 

 bird from the noose. One Grosbeak which escaped from my 

 hands after being snared would not again permit me to get the 

 noose near him, and even, I thought, tried to warn his com- 

 panions of their danger ; nor was he wholly unsuccessful, for his 

 alert behavior and loud cries often caused them to stop feeding 

 and more than once when he took wing they all followed him. 



The remarkable numbers and tameness of the Grosbeaks 

 which visited Cambridge led me to suspect that they formed 

 part of a much larger body of birds which had come an un- 

 usual distance and spread over an exceptionally wide territory. 

 Hoping to get light on these points I sent circulars throughout 

 New England, to the Middle States, as far west as Illinois and 

 Wisconsin, and as far north as Canada, asking for information as 

 to the local presence or absence of the Grosbeaks during the 

 winter of 1892-93, their numbers, and the approximate dates of 

 their arrival, departure and greatest abundance, the proportion of 

 adult males to females and young, and their food. Through the 

 kindness with which these circulars were answered I am now 

 able to trace with some degree of apparent accuracy the route 

 followed by the majority of the birds and the total area covered 

 by their flight. 



Before doing this, however, it may be well to consider briefly 

 the biographical matter furnished by my correspondents. This 

 relates chiefly to food and the ratio of bright males to dull- 

 plumaged birds. The tables given below summarize the evidence 

 on these two points. It will be seen on examining Table I that 

 the chief food of the Grosbeaks consisted of the seeds of the 

 white ash {Fraxiims americana) , and of the apple, the fruit of 

 the apple and of the American and European mountain ash 

 {Pirns aniericana and Pirns ancnparia) and of the buds of the 

 sugar maple {Acer saccharinnvi) , and Norway spruce {Abies ex- 

 celsa). The birds apparently attacked the fruit and buds of other 

 plants only when the supply of their favorite food was exhausted. 



That the birds ate the seeds of the apple is clearly shown, and 

 it seems probable that they ate the pulp as well. One corre- 



