832 The Sparrow-like Birds 



but one moult in a year, "yet their summer and winter plumages differ con- 

 siderably in many of the species. In spring and summer the margins of the 

 feathers are lost by abrasion or by being cut off, and then the color of the parts 

 affected becomes more uniform and frequently more brilliant." Generally the 

 colors are quite plain, but there are notable exceptions in which brilliant red, 

 blue, yellow, green, and snowy white appear. The FringillidcE are for the most 

 part gregarious and arboreal, but they descend freely to the ground in search 

 of food, and not a few spend practically their entire lives there, many placing 

 their nests on the ground. For the most part they are hardy birds, some being 

 resident where found, but the majority are migratory to a greater or less extent, 

 often spending the nesting season in the far North and the winter months in 

 the more southern latitudes. Many of them are good singers, and although 

 they ordinarily stand captivity well, they are not, except in a few notable cases, 

 caged to any great extent. 



In accordance with the views of perhaps the majority of ornithologists, the 

 FringillidcB are placed at the top of the avian series, though this position is by 

 no means unchallenged. There are also differences of opinion as to the num- 

 ber of groups that can be successfully determined within the family, Dr. Sharpe, 

 for instance, dividing them into several subfamilies ; while Mr. Ridgway, in his 

 "Birds of North and Middle America," allows no subfamilies, but recognizes 

 upward of twenty more or less well defined "groups" that fall within the 

 limits of his work. As lack of space will prevent anything like a complete 

 exposition of this vast assemblage, we can only select a few of the more 

 prominent forms, and hope thereby to convey a fairly accurate idea of what 

 they are like. 



Evening Grosbeak. Beginning with the Grosbeaks, Hawfinches, etc., we 

 have a group of rather large, often brightly colored, birds in which the bill is 

 very large and thick, the best-known American representative being the hand- 

 some Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona], which in three slight geographic races 

 spreads over western temperate North America from the British provinces to 

 the highlands of southern Mexico. To quote from the inimitable Coues: "A 

 bird of most distinguished appearance, indeed, is the Evening Grosbeak, whose 

 very name of the ' vesper- voiced ' suggests at once the far-away land of the 

 dipping sun, and the tuneful romance which the wild bird throws around the 

 fading light of day. Clothed in the most striking color contrasts of black, 

 white, and gold, he seems to represent the allegory of diurnal transmutations; 

 for his sable pinions close around the brightness of his vesture, just as the night 

 encompasses the golden hues of the sunset ; while the clear, white space infolded 

 in these tints foretells the dawn of the morrow." The Evening Grosbeak (H. 

 vespertinus} is gregarious, constantly going about in small and occasionally 

 large flocks, and is very tame and unsuspicious, often permitting half a dozen 

 to be shot out of a flock before making much attempt to escape. They fre- 

 quent especially the coniferous forests, where they feed largely upon the seeds 

 of conifers; but in winter they are considerably given to wandering appar- 

 ently in search of food, and are then often found feeding on buds of the maple, 



