376 FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



tail black; end half of the secondaries and their coverts white. Ad. 9. 

 Brownish gray, lighter on the underparts more or less tinged with yellow, 

 especially on the nape; wings black, inner primaries white at the base, 

 secondaries edged with white; tail biack, the feathers tipped with white on 

 the inner web; upper tail-coverts black tipped with white. Ads. and Im. 

 in winter. Similar to ads. in summer. L., 8'00; W., 4'50; T., 3'50; B., '72. 



Range. Cen. N. Am. Breeds in w. Alberta; winters in the interior of 

 N. A. s. of the Sask. and e. of the Rocky Mts. and more or less irregularly 

 s. to Mo., Ky., and Ohio, and e. to e. Pa., N. Y., n. N. J., New England, 

 and Que. 



Glen Ellyn, one record, Dec. 11, 1889. SE. Minn., common W. V 

 Oct. 17-May 19. 



Nest, known from but few specimens, composed of small twigs, lined with 

 bark, hair, or rootlets, placed within twenty feet of the ground. Eggs, 3-4, 

 greenish, blotched with pale brown (see Davie). Date, Springer ville, Ariz., 

 June 5 (H. v. montana) ; Las Vigas, Vera Cruz, alt. 8,000 ft., Apl. 30, young 

 on wing (H. v. mexicana). 



This distinguished inhabitant of the far Northwest is a common 

 winter visitant in Manitoba and the contiguous parts of the bordering 

 states. At irregular intervals it invades the northern Mississippi 

 Valley in numbers, while still more rarely it extends its wanderings 

 to the North Atlantic States. It travels in flocks of from six or eight 

 to sixty individuals which by their tameness show their ignorance of 

 man and his ways. They feed largely on the buds or seeds of trees 

 maple, elder, and box elder. Their notes are described by different 

 observers as a shrill "cheepy-teet," and a "frog-like peep," while one 

 writer remarks that "the males have a single metallic cry like the note 

 of a trumpet, and the females a loud chattering like the large Cherry 

 Birds (Ampelis garrulus)" Their song is given as a wandering, 

 jerky warble, beginning low, suddenly increasing in power, and as sud- 

 denly ceasing, as though the singer were out of breath. 



During the winter and early spring of 1890 there was a phenomenal 

 incursion of Evening Grosbeaks into the Northern States, accounts of 

 which, by Amos W. Butler, will be found in The Auk, 1892, pp. 238-247; 

 1893, pp. 155-157. In the winter of 1910-11 the birds again appeared 

 in large numbers. Records of their occurrence will be found in The 

 Auk and Bird-Lore for 1911. 



1910. ROBERTS, T. S., Bull. Minn. Acad. Sci., IV, 406-414 (habits in 

 Minn.). 1901. BIRTWELL, F. J., Auk, XVIII, 388-391 (nesting). 



515. Pinicola enucleator leucura (Mull.}. PINE GROSBEAK. (Fig. 

 64a.) Ad. <?. Slaty gray, more or less strongly washed with rose-red, 

 strongest on the crown, rump, upper tail-coverts, and breast; wings fuscous, 

 their coverts edged with white; tail fuscous. This plumage is acquired at the 

 first postnuptial molt. Ad. 9. Slaty gray, crown, upper tail-coverts, and 

 breast more or less strongly washed with olive-yellow; wings and tail as in 

 the <?. Im. Resembles the 9, but is somewhat brighter. L., 9'08; W., 4'36; 

 T., 3-67; B., '54. 



Range. E. N. Am. Breeds in Boreal forests from nw. Mackenzie (Great 

 Bear Lake), cen. Keewatin, and n. Ungava to the White Mts. of N. H. t 

 Maine, cen. N. B., s. N. S., and Cape Breton Is.; winters s. to Iowa, Ind., 

 Pa., n. N. J., and casually to D, C. and Ky.; w. to Man., Minn., and e, 

 Kans. 



