466 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
and Illinois and the area of eastern North America covered was the greatest 
known up to that time, but this was very much exceeded by the wide 
distribution of the species in the winter of 1889-90, when although they do 
not appear to have been as numerous in some localities as in the last pre- 
ceding dispersal, they reached nearly to the Atlantic Coast at several 
localities” (Auk, IX, 1892, 246-247). 
During their winter sojourn in Michigan the Evening Grosbeaks feed 
largely upon the seeds of maple, box-elder, ash, and of various frozen or 
dried fruits from trees and vines, and frequently upon the seeds of various 
cone-bearing trees. According to Mr. L. Whitney Watkins, who observed 
them carefully at Manchester, Mich. during the winter of 1889-90, they 
preferred apple seeds, taken from frozen apples, to all other food; next they 
ate maple seeds, and took the seeds of evergreens only as a last resort. 
Three male grosbeaks which he kept in captivity for nearly two years re- 
fused to eat any kind of grain except a few oats when hard-pressed. They 
also refused to eat insects of any kind that could be procured. Almost 
all observers agree that the birds are remarkably tame and unsuspicious 
when they first appear in late autumn or winter, moving about and feeding 
often in large flocks (very seldom singly) and show little fear of man until 
after they have been repeatedly shot at or otherwise alarmed. Towards 
spring, however, and especially toward the end of their stay in April and 
May, they become more shy and more suspicious and are altogether more 
restless and uncertain. 
The nest and eggs of this species remained unknown until 1901, when 
they were found at Willis, New Mexico by Francis J. Birtwell, who collected 
two nests of three and four eggs respectively and lost his life in attempting 
to collect a third. The nests were of sticks and Usnea moss, lined with 
rootlets, and placed near the tips of horizontal branches of large pines, 
from forty to seventy feet from the ground. The eggs are described as 
“in color, size, form, texture and markings, indistinguishable from those 
of the Red-winged Blackbird.’”’ The birds appeared to be nesting in a small 
colony of a dozen pairs or less. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Bill very large, short and strong, nearly as high at base aslong. Adult male: Forehead 
and stripe over eye bright yellow; crown deep black; rest of head and neck all round, dark 
olive-brown, fading to lighter olive on the back and changing to rich golden yellow on the 
scapulars and rump; similarly, the dusky olive of the throat fades on the breast and be- 
comes bright yellow on the sides, belly, flanks and under tail-coverts; upper tail-coverts 
and tail deep black, without spots; primaries deep black; most of the secondaries and their 
coverts snowy white; the tertiaries rather duller white; bill greenish yellow; iris brown. 
Adult female: Top and sides of head brownish or brownish-gray; throat white, bordered 
on each side by a black or dusky line; breast and sides gray, marked with yellowish, and 
becoming pure white on belly and under tail-coverts; nape dull yellow, tending to form a 
collar about the hind neck; back and rump brownish or ashy gray; upper tail-coverts black, 
tipped with white; tail-feathers black, broadly spotted with white at ends; primaries and 
secondaries black, boldly spotted with white; lining of wing yellow. Young: Similar to 
adult female, but duller and more brownish, usually lacking the dark lines at the sides 
of the throat. Length 7 to 8.50 inches; wing 4.20 to 4.50; tail 2.75 to 3.20; culmen .75 to .80. 
207. Pine Grosbeak. Pinicola enucleator leucura (Mull.). (515) 
Synonyms: American Pine Grosbeak, Canadian Pine Grosbeak, Canadian Grosbeak, 
Pine Bullfinch.—Loxia leucura, Muller, 1776.—Loxia enucleator, Wils.—Pinicola cana- 
densis, Baird, 1858.—Pinicola enucleator canadensis, Ridgw., 1887. 
Males vary from rose-pink to dull yellow, according to age, and females 
ave mainly slate-gray with some dull yellow on head, rump and upper 
