The Blue Grosbeaks 



headlong flights through hedgerows and briars. Or, perhaps, it is all a 

 solemn farce. The lady does not want to get away. She only wants to 

 be appreciated. 



According to Mr. John G. Tyler, of Fresno, who has probably had a 

 wider experience of this species than any other observer in the State, 

 the Blue Grosbeaks are closely dependent upon the presence of water 

 during the nesting period. "Along many of the canals and ditches in the 

 valley grow patches of a plant the name of which I do not recall, but 

 which greatly resembles in appearance and manner of growth the Chrys- 

 anthemum. It would probably be no exaggeration to state that seven of 

 every ten grosbeaks' nests are built in the clumps of this plant, being fas- 

 tened to two or three upright shoots, in much the same manner that a 

 blackbird attaches its basket-like nest to a bunch of tules." If there are 

 not enough of these favored plants to go around, the Grosbeaks invade the 

 willows, or even the neighboring orchards. Nests in the weeds are, of 

 necessity, only three or four feet above the ground, but orchard nests run 

 ten or a dozen feet in height, and a twenty-foot elevation is of record. 



The deeply cupped basket of the Western Blue Grosbeak is both a 

 more artistic and a more substantial affair than that of Hedymeles. Exter- 

 nally, it is composed of weed-stems, grasses, and dried leaves; internally, 

 of grasses, rootlets, and, above all, horsehair. A'Ir. Tyler says, "I have 

 yet to find a nest that did not have either a piece of paper, or a dry paper- 

 like leaf woven into the framework somewhere." A nest in the M . C. O. 

 collection has a piece of cast-off snake-skin which evidently satisfies this 

 same requirement. 



The eggs, which are of the palest possible "blue" (light niagara 

 green), unmarked, establish beyond controversy the Passerine connection. 

 Indeed, they may be distinguished from eggs of our Lazuli Bunting only 

 by their larger size and somewhat stouter proportions. 



Nesting is in May or June (May 18 to June 23 is the Fresno record), 

 and in an incredibly short time thereafter, by the 10th of August at the 

 outside, the birds are on the move for the South. 



Since their stay with us is so brief, and after we have been comfort- 

 ably assured that these Grosbeaks do not molest fruit, we are not greatly 

 concerned with their food habits. It is interesting to know, however, that 

 more than other birds with "gross" beaks this species is highly insec- 

 tivorous. Fully two-thirds of its diet is comprised of animal matter, 

 among which the grasshopper figures prominently. After bugs, come 

 weed-seed and grain. Family groups assemble at the close of the season in 

 larger flocks, and since the duller plumages of the female and young pre- 

 dominate, the old South notices a considerable resemblance between them 

 and Rice-birds (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). Like the lordly Bobolink in 



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