The California Evening Grosbeak 



General color deep smoky brownish gray or buffy brown, darker on the head, lighter on 

 wings, lighter, more buffy, on sides, shading to dull whitish on throat and abdomen, 

 tinged with yellowish green on hind neck, clearing to light yellow on axillars and under 

 wing-coverts; a small clear white patch about midway of inner primaries; another of 

 irregular contour formed by outer edges of inner feathers of greater wing-coverts; 

 white blotches on tips of secondaries, on tips of upper tail-coverts and inner webs of 

 tail-feathers, in varying proportions. Length about 203.2 (8.00); av. of 6 males in 

 M. V. Z. coll.: wing 112 (4.41); tail 62 (2.44); bill 18.8 (.74); depth at base 14.6 (.57); 

 width at base 13.8 (.54); tarsus 20.8 (.82). 



Nesting. — Nest: As described by Beck, a substantial structure 35 feet up in black 

 oak; of twigs heavily lined with moss-like rootlets of a dark color, and with an inside 

 lining of light-colored rootlets; diameter outside 1 14.3 (4.50); inside 76 (3.00). Eggs: 

 3 or 4, ovate; light greenish blue, spotted and blotched sparingly with dark brown and 

 black — distantly resembling those of a Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus sp.). 

 Av. size of three: 23.4 x 16.2 (.92 x .64). Season: June 18 (1896), July 9 (1922). 



Range of Hesperiphona vespertina.-'North central and western North America; 

 breeds chiefly in the highlands or the coniferous timber from Alberta and southern 

 British Columbia south to Chihuahua. Wanders irregularly over tributary lowlands 

 in winter and casually east to New England. 



Range of //. v. californica. — "Summer range — chiefly in Sierra Nevada of 

 California, south at least to Yosemite National Park; but also Warner Mountains, 

 Modoc County, and thence north at least to Bear Creek, Wheeler County, Oregon 

 (See L. H. Miller, Condor, VI, 1904, p. 104). Winters irregularly in adjacent territory 

 south to Mount Wilson, Los Angeles County, California" — Joseph Grinnell. 



Distribution in California. — As above. This, or an allied form still unde- 

 scribed, occurs also in the Trinity Mountains and in the northwestern humid coast 

 belt: near Eureka (Clay, Davis); Weaverville, Trinity County, Feb. 27, 1911 (Kellogg); 

 near Trinidad, Humboldt County, June 22, 1916 (Dawson); Tehama County, near 

 Beegum, July 4, 1916 (Dawson). 



Authorities. — Cooper, Ornith. Calif., 1870, pp. 173-176; Cones, Bull. Nutt. 

 Orn. Club, vol. iv., 1879, pp. 65-75 (life history); Mearns, Auk, vol. vii., 1890, pp. 

 246-249 (part) (crit.) ; Beck, Nidologist, vol. iv., 1896, pp. 3-4, col. pi. (nest and eggs 

 in Calif.); Merriam, C. H., U. S. Dept. Agric, N. Amer. Fauna, no. 16, 1899, pp. 

 122-123 (about Mt. Shasta); [Barlow], Condor, vol. iii., 1901, p. 88 (winter invasion 

 of 1900-1901) ; Grinnell, Condor, vol. xix., 1917, p. 20 (desc. of californica). 



THE MAN who said, scoffingly, "What's in a name !" brought down 

 upon himself an avalanche of criticism, or multitudinous rejoinder, whose 

 reverberations, now angry, now eloquent, will never be done rolling. 

 In bird-lore especially, history has embodied itself in nomenclature. Here, 

 as in human society, the moment of introduction must often be taken up 

 with a discussion of names. And while bird-names may be as diverse 

 as Smith and Specknoodle, they are rarely so conventionalized, or so 

 devoid of immediate significance. There is a fitness, then, in placing 

 Hesperiphona, "Voice of the Evening Star," at the head of a group 

 conspicuous in song, the Fringillidae. The western implications of the 



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