APPENDIX. 471 



Its previous capture in New York State — in Essex and Onondaga 

 counties and near New York city — had prepared us of course to 

 expect it here at any time as a rare straggler ; but he who had ven- 

 tured to predict that it would one day visit us in numbers would 

 have been justly considered a rash prophet. Y^t, in the year above 

 mentioned, it came by hundreds if not thousands, and was taken or 

 observed in every New England State, excepting (apparently) Rhode 

 Island. 



The records of this extraordinary flight — made chiefly in the 

 " Ornithologist and Oslogist," " Forest and Stream," and " Auk," for 

 1890 — are too numerous to be given in this connection. They show 

 that the Evening Grosbeak came to us from the westward by way 

 of southern Canada (" large and numerous flocks " passed through 

 Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton, and southern Peel County, Canada, 

 in January) and New York State ; that it was seen first at South 

 Sudbury, Massachusetts, January 1, and last at Henniker, New 

 Hampshire, May 1 ; that it was most numerous during January, 

 February, and early March ; and that most of the birds departed 

 before April. The flight extended quite to the coast (Ljmn and 

 Crescent Beach, near Boston) in Massachusetts, and nearly to the 

 shores of Long Island Sound (Portland), in Connecticut. Its 

 extreme northeastern limits were perhaps reached at Orono (near 

 Bangor), Maine. In the Middle States the species visited Summit, 

 New Jersey, and Montoursville, Pennsylvania, a flock of about 

 forty appearing at the latter place in January and remaining until 

 April 30. 



In New England, Massachusetts appears to have represented the 

 area of greatest abundance. There are records for Boxford, Lynn, 

 Crescent Beach, Reading, West Roxbury, Wellesley, South Natick, 

 North Sudbury, and Taunton, in the eastern part of the State ; and 

 for East Brimfield, Amherst, Agawam (near Springfield), and 

 West Pelham, in the central portions. No doubt many other 

 places from which no reports have come were also visited. Ex- 

 cepting in a few localities the birds do not seem to have been really 

 numerous. As a rule they appeared in flocks of from five or six to 

 ten or a dozen members each, but pairs and solitary individuals were 

 often met with. Naturally enough — and very fortunately for our 

 local collections — the strange-looking birds attracted much atten- 

 tion and met with a pitiless reception at the hands of the country 

 sportsmen and taxidermists, by whom many specimens were killed 

 and preserved. 



