The Evening Grosbeak in the East 483 



THE EVENING GROSBEAK IN THE EAST. 



The past winter has been a memorable one for our 

 bird-lovers through the presence in large numbers of that 

 rare visitant, the Evening Grosbeak {Hesperiphona 

 Vespertina). This beautiful bird with its strikingly 

 variegated costume of yellow, white, brown and black, 

 attracted much attention in our streets. Comparatively 

 few had ever seen or heard of such a bird. One listening 

 to the comments from a group watching a flock feeding 

 in the trees on the street, would hear references to "wild 

 canaries," "winter goldfinches," "yellow robins," etc. 



Like its relative, the Crossbill, the Evening Grosbeak 

 is somewhat erratic in its movements. Nesting in the 

 far Northwest, it usually migrates in Autumn to the 

 plains of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and of the 

 states immediately to the south. Occasionally, however, 

 it continues its way far down into the western Mississippi 

 Valley, and at infrequent intervals extends its range as 

 far east as the province of Quebec and the North Atlantic 

 States. 



The first great recorded migration into the east occur- 

 red in the winter of 1889-90. I remember counting at 

 least forty on a bitterly cold winter morning, twittering 

 contentedly in the trees just in front of the McGill Arts' 

 Building. Since that date, I know of no record of its 

 appearance here, although Dionne reports it in numbers 

 at Quebec in the winter of 1903-4. It has been occasion- 

 ally seen in Ottawa, at Guelph, Parry Sound, and at 

 other points in Western Ontario. There was a visitation 

 of the eastern states in 1910.11. 



This year the Evening Grosbeaks appeared in num- 

 bers towards the end of February and were reported 

 from time to time in almost every part of the city and its 

 suburbs. They were seen in St. Lambert, Ste. Anne de 

 Bellevue, Morin Heights, Ste. Agathe, Grand 'Mere, and 

 doubtless at many other points in the province. They 

 remained here for nearly two months, being observed on 



