70 CouES's History of the Evening Grosbeak. 



and interesting chapter was added by J. K. Townsend, who contrib- 

 uted his observations to Audubon's work, under date of " Columbia 

 River, May 27, 1836." He corrected two grave errors which had 

 ah'eady cropped out, namely, respecting the sexual similarity in 

 plumnge, and concerning the wrong notion that the bird sings only 

 at evening, as implied in the term ve»pertina. His notice is worth 

 transcribing, even at this late day, so little further information have 

 we acquired respecting the habits of the Evening Grosbeak. 



" The Evening Grosbeak," says Townsend, " is very numerous in 

 the pine-woods at this time. You can scarcely enter a grove of 

 pines at any hour in the day without seeing numbers of them. 

 They are very unsuspicious and tame, and I have, in consequence, 

 been enabled to procure a fine suite of specimens. The accounts 

 that have been published respecting them by the only two authors 

 to whom I have access, Mr. Nuttall and Prince Bonaparte, are, I 

 think, in many respects, incorrect. In the first place, it is stated 

 that they are retiring and silent during the day, and sing only on 

 the approach of evening. Here they are remarkably noisy during 

 the whole of the day, from sunrise to sunset. They then retire 

 quietly to their roosts in the summits of the tall pines, and are not 

 aroused until daylight streaks the east, when they come forth to 

 feed as before. Thus I have observed them here, but will not say 

 but that at other seasons and in other situations their habits may 

 be different. They are now, however, very near the season of 

 breeding, as the organs of the specimens I examined sufficiently 

 indicate. They appear fond of going in large bodies, and it is 

 rare to see one alone in a tree. They feed upon the seeds of the 

 pine and other trees, alighting upon large limbs, and pi-oceeding 

 by a succession of hops to the very extremities of the branches. 

 They eat, as well as seeds, a considerable quantity of the larvae 

 of the large black ant, and it is probable that it is to procure 

 this food that they are not uncommonly seen in the tops of the low 

 oaks which here skirt the forests. Their oi'dinary voice, when they 

 are engaged in procuring food, consists of a single rather sci-eaming 

 note, which from its tone I at first supposed to be one of alarm, but 

 soon discovered my error. At other times, particularly about mid- 

 day, the male sometimes selects a lofty pine branch, and there at- 

 tempts a song ; but it is a miserable failure, and he seems conscious 

 of it, for he frequently pauses and looks discontented, then remains 

 silent sometimes for some minutes, and tries it again, but with no 



