The California Evening Grosbeak 



generic title were further confined by the choice of a specific name, ves- 

 pertina, a term applied in 1825 by a New Yorker, one William Cooper, 

 to an example hailing from the "far West," namely, from the wilds of 

 Michigan! By the logic of our increasing sophistication, vespertina 

 vespertina came to be recognized as the eastern form of Hesperiphona, 

 and montana was used to designate the western bird. Last of all comes 

 Grinnell, the gifted prophet of subspeciation, who restricts montana to 

 the Rocky Mountain district and gives us californica for the authentic 

 West. So now we have it Hesperiphona vespertina californica, West, 

 Wester, Westest! Swayed by such considerations as these, our veteran 

 Coues, in periods of rhapsodic appreciation, professed to see in the olive- 

 and-gold raiment of this bizarre fowl a fitting symbol of the sunset! 

 Moreover, the name vespertina, falling athwart a boundless ignorance, 

 gave rise to an early tradition of vocal abilities stimulated by the evening 

 hours, or even limited to them. This pretty story was eventually shown 

 to be nonsense; but tradition dies hard, and "Evening Grosbeak" it will 

 doubtless be till the end of time. 



A juster reason, perhaps, for precedence among sparrows, may be 

 found in the enormous bill which this bird boasts. A cone-shaped beak 

 is the mark of sparrowness, and here is a proper cone-beak, indeed. 



But for this primacy there are damaging limitations. The Evening 

 Grosbeak is neither the most beautiful nor the most tuneful of the Frin- 

 gillidce, if he is by common consent rated the oddest. His garb is a patch- 

 work; his song a series of shrieks; his motions eccentric; his humor phleg- 

 matic; and his concepts beyond the ken of man. Although at times one 

 of the most approachable of birds, he is, on the whole, an avian freak, a 

 rebus in feathers. 



Perhaps we make too much of a mystery of him, just as we rate the 

 owl highest in wisdom for the single discretion of silence, which any 

 dunderhead may attain. But now take this group in the park; just what 

 are they about? They sit there stolidly in the rowan tree where all the 

 passersby may take note of them, giving vent ever and anon to explosive 

 yelps, but doing nothing by the hour, until an insane impulse seizes 

 one of their number to be off to some other scene no better, be it near or 

 far, and the rest yield shrieking consent by default of alternative idea. 

 It is all so unreasonable, so uncanny, that it irritates us. 



Evening Grosbeaks are semi-gregarious the year around, but are 

 seen to best advantage in winter or early spring, when they flock closely 

 and visit city parks or wooded lawns. One is oftenest attracted to their 

 temporary quarters by the startling and disconnected noises which are 

 flung out broadcast. It may be that the flock is absorbed in the depths 

 of a small fir, so that one may come up near enough to analyze the sound. 



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