J^otes from JPieHi and ^tuDj? 



A Recent Visit of the Evening Grosbeak 



Somewhere about February i, 1905, a 

 flock of black and white birds flew over in 

 rapid flight. They were rather high up, and 

 I took them for White-winged Crossbills. 

 Their course was undulating, with a suc- 

 cession of rapid strokes and then a break, 

 as so many of the Fringiliidae practice. I 

 was struck with the somewhat bizarre effect 

 of the black and white colors, even in the 

 rapid flight of the flock past nie. This fact 

 I recall on looking back. But I kept watch 

 of the tamarack and other coniferous trees, 

 even going out on snowshoes to visit them. 

 But I found no Crossbills. During several 



seasons, in other years, these birds have been only a part of the flock. On these the yel 

 very abundant here. On February 11, 1905, low of the forehead was also more decided 

 directly in front of my house in the broad and clearly defined. These may have been 

 street of Litchfield, I saw a number of black the older and more matured males, 

 and white birds, running about in a nervous Although very tame on approach, the 



way in the middle of the road, and flying birds were as actively nervous as any which 

 one over the other. I still thought them to I have ever seen. They ran about up and 

 be the White - winged Crossbill, only I down and across the road, picking the seeds 

 wondered at several things: from their snowbed ; and then, too, the rear 



First, they were picking up the undi- guard, as they were all moving forward. 



white on the different parts which it would 

 be hard to locate unless one had the bird in 

 his hand, and I am describing only the im- 

 pressions made upon one standing at a dis- 

 tance. But the feature that impressed me 

 was the vividness of both the black and 

 the white. 



A passing vehicle put up the birds again. 

 This time they simply circled round and 

 pitched again into the road behind the sleigh. 

 Its two male occupants, I made note, were 

 so blind to the rare wonders of bird life that 

 they did not even look up at the beauties. 



Drawing quite near again, for the birds 

 were very tame, I could discover that the 

 strikingly black and white ones made up 



gested grains from the horse droppings in 

 the middle of the road. This I had never 

 seen the Crossbills do. Second, the birds 

 looked too large. And, third, the black 

 and white were so pronounced. When the 

 flock took wing, the bizarre effect of their 

 flight was so striking as to suggest the blur- 

 ring of one's eyes in vertigo, or extreme 

 dizziness. 



The birds took to the elms bordering the 

 street, but were very soon down in the road 

 again. I reckoned that the flock numbered 

 about thirty. In a moment I had the glass 

 in hand, and then the revelation came that I 

 was looking at the Evening Grosbeak. 



There was no pink tinge about the birds, 

 but there was a very decided suggestion of 

 yellow. This color was most prominent on 

 the forehead and nape. The breast and 

 throat were lightish. The wings, back and 

 head were black, and the tail black and 

 rather short than otherwise. There was the 



would take wing and fly over the heads of 

 those in advance, in order to get better 

 picking, just as I have often seen the Wild 

 Pigeon do, forty-five years ago. 



On February 12 and 13 the birds were 

 still hanging about the village, and I had a 

 report of them on the 14th. 



I had hoped that they would do as their 

 cousins the Pine Grosbeaks have often done, 

 and stay about during the whole winter. A 

 report only yesterday, February 21, from the 

 neighboring village of Bantam, said they 

 were there, feeding near the grist-mill. 

 And this may have been true. But as all of 

 our own bird-loving contingent, when they 

 saw the Evening Grosbeak, at first thought 

 they were looking at the Snow Bunting ; 

 so some one, seeing the Snow Bunting, 

 may have thought that he was having a 

 sight of the Grosbeak which I had described 

 in the local paper. 



The books report this Grosbeak as hav- 



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