The Evening Grosbeak in Greater New York^ 



Harold K. Decker 



Though there are a number of records of the evening grosbeak, 

 Hesperiphona vespertina vespertina, in New York State, chiefly 

 in the central, western, and northwestern parts, there seems to be 

 but one possibility that it has ever before been observed in New 

 York City. On page 289 of his Catalogue of Birds observed on 

 New York, Long and Staten Islands, and the Adjacent Parts of 

 New Jersey ,2 George N. Lawrence lists the bird merely as rare and 

 gives no specific locality. A more recent observation is that 

 made by Waldron DeWitt Miller at Plainfield, New Jersey, in 

 1911,^ It is highly gratifying, therefore, to report the first defi- 

 nite record for New York City, which was made at 3 :30 p. m. on 

 Jan. 9, 1916, by the writer and Theodore L. Hermann. 



About a half mile southwest of Castleton Corners, Staten 

 Island, is a section of country partly cleared by a real estate com- 

 pany but- still supporting a stand of second growth white oak, 

 greenbriers and the other vegetation characteristic of land left to 

 survive abuse. The leaves of the oaks are crisped and curled into 

 bunches at the top, and the rattling of these leaves first drew 

 attention to the presence of the birds, which proved to be a fine 

 male and female evening grosbeak. The yellow and oHve markings 

 of the male were most brilliant, while the color of the bill was 

 distinguishable with the naked eye at a distance of thirty feet. 

 The white secondaries showed up in a bold waxy contrast with the 

 black primaries. The two birds rarely kept apart but followed 

 one another closely, often alighting in the same scrub oak tussock. 

 Later observation proved that they were nipping off the buds. 

 It was easy to get within eight or ten feet of the birds at any time, 



1 Presented at the meeting of the Section of Natural Science April 8, 1916. 



2 Annals Lye. Nat. Hist. [New York] 8: 279-300. 1866. 



3 Bird Lore 13: 95. Mar.-Ap. 1911. 



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