6 BULLETIN OF THE LABORATORIES 



mooted song has been heard. The most eastern point yet reached by 

 these birds seems to be Cleveland, Ohio, and isolated cases of their oc- 

 currence in Wisconsin and Illinois are also known. The species is 

 highly gregarious and individuals are rarely or never met with singly. 

 Even the destructive inroads of the collector, before whom they are 

 absolutely defenseless, do not scatter or break up the flock. Unsus- 

 pecting and without fear, they continue to feed until the last individual 

 falls a victim. The migrating colony seems well satisfied with itself 

 and its temporary home and, while feeding, a constant chorus of an- 

 swering cries is kept up. The note is not loud but is remarkably 

 piercing, and yet not unmelodious. The early belief that these birds 

 are silent except at evening is entirely erroneous. In spring, upon the 

 approach of the breeding season, the males cultivate the muses in an 

 odd but not displeasing little song. This song consists of several suc- 

 cessive repetitions of a short warble, followed by a similar strain clos- 

 ing with a shrill cry, like the finale of a black-bird's song. The phrase 

 which makes up the body of the song is musical, but is so abruptly ter- 

 minated (as though from lack of breath or of ability, ) that it is annoy- 

 ing when heard singly, for one is subjected to much the same nervous 

 expectancy felt in listening to a hen's cackle when quite leisurely 

 "working up the agony" sufficiently to sound the final note. A 

 flock of a dozen or more singing together produce a very musical ef- 

 fect. The food almost entirely consists of the seeds of various trees, 

 among which the box elder, the maple, poplar, and pine are pre-emi- 

 nent. Buds of cherry and other trees are also eaten, and this regime 

 is varied bv occasional insect larvae, etc. 



O. B. Johnson, who mentions this grosbeak from the Williamette 

 valley, speaks of it as plentiful during migrations, and states that " the 

 only note heard was a loud ' yeeip,' strikingly like the call of a lost 

 chicken." Of the nest and eggs we as yet know nothing, and so of 

 the many interesting traits which make up the sum of its true home- 

 life we must be content to remain ignorant. From its inaccessable 

 summer home it continues to descend during the .severe winter weather 

 and, almost under the very roofs of the factories of a busy city, con- 

 tentedly passes the short days, heedless of the noise and regardful only 

 of the oily kernels of the keys of the box elder, which it displays 

 a very awkward skill in plucking as it swings (head downwards or oth- 

 erwise) from the pendulous branches. 



These brief remarks are designed simply as introductory to the 



