1^6 Butler on the Evening Grosbeak. April 



Mr. T. Mcllwraith, Hamilton, Ontario, very kindly sent me 

 an account of his observations concerning these birds in the 

 winter of 1SS9-90. He says : "The first flock was noticed on 

 Dec. 22, 18S9. I soon found their haunts, which I visited almost 

 daily till the end of January when the eastern migration ceased. 

 Passing flocks were again seen in March going rapidly westward, 

 but the numbers were less, and they made no stay. In Canada 

 they seemed to travel on a straight, narrow line from Windsor to 

 Quebec, north or south of which they were not observed, till 

 they reached the east end of Lake Ontario, when they scattered 

 south through New York. Near Hamilton they frequented the 

 north shore of the lake, where they fed on the berries of the red 

 cedar ; they were also noticed taking the seeds from such apples 

 as remained on the trees at that season." 



Mr. L. W. Watkins, Manchester, Michigan, has been very 

 obliging in supplying me with the following notes : "Late in 

 the fall of 1889 Washtenaw and other counties were visited by 

 the Evening Grosbeak. They came in large flocks, sometimes 

 two hundred or more. These flocks were scattered very gen- 

 erally over the country, about one flock to everv six square miles. 

 They frequented gardens, orchards, and dooryards. Towards 

 dusk they ail disappeared, but at early dawn they were back 

 again in the apple orchards where they fed upon the apple seeds, 

 cracking them open as do the tame canaries their hemp seeds. 

 There were many frozen apples upon the trees and on the ground. 

 These they pulled to pieces, rejecting all but the seeds. When 

 the supply of fruit seeds gave out they ate maple seeds, but, so 

 far as I have observed, they ate evergreen cone seeds only as a 

 last resort. Their unwary nature, and high, bell-toned, garrulous 

 chirrup attracted the attention of even the most unobserving. I 

 resolved to try to capture some, thinking they might breed in 

 confinement. In our yard was a crab-apple tree. The ground 

 beneath it was covered with the little fruits. When the Gros- 

 beaks had exhausted the supply of food in the orchard they came 

 to this tree. When frightened, while upon the ground, they in- 

 variably flew straight up among the branches of that tree instead 

 of flying oft* to some other. I arranged an old pigeon net among 

 the branches to try to catch some. When coming to feed they 

 always alighted in a body upon the ground, and did not alight 



