218 EVENING GROSBEAK. 



female remained utterly unknown until it was obtained by Mr. Townsend, 

 who found this Grosbeak abundant about the Columbia river, and procured 

 a great number of specimens, several of which are in my possession. The 

 following note from him contains all the information respecting its habits 

 that I can lay before you. 



"Columbia river, May 27, 1S36. — The Evening Grosbeak, Fringilla 

 vespertina, is very numerous in the pine-woods at this time. You can 

 scarcely enter a grove of pines at any hour in the day without seeing 

 numbers of them. They are very unsuspicious and tame, and I have, in 

 consequence, been enabled to procure a fine suite of specimens. The 

 accounts that have been published respecting them by the only two authors 

 to whom I have access, Mr. Nuttall and Prince Bonaparte, are, I think, 

 in many respects incorrect. In the first place, it is stated that they are 

 retiring and silent during the day, and sing only on the approach of evening. 

 Here they are remarkably noisy during the whole of the day, from sunrise to 

 sunset. They then retire quietly to their roosts in the summits of the tall 

 pines, and are not aroused until daylight streaks the east, when they come 

 forth to feed as before. Thus I have observed them here, but will not say 

 but that at other seasons, and in other situations, their habits may be differ- 

 ent. They are now, however, very near the season of breeding, as the 

 organs of the specimens I have examined sufficiently indicate. They appear 

 fond of going in large bodies, and it is rare to see one alone in a tree. They 

 feed upon the seeds of the pine and other trees, alighting upon large limbs, 

 and proceeding by a succession of hops to the very extremities of the 

 branches. They eat, as well as seeds, a considerable quantity of the larvas 

 of the large black ant, and it is probable that it is to procure this food that 

 they are not uncommonly seen in the tops of the low oaks which here skirt 

 the forests. Their ordinary voice, when they are engaged in procuring food, 

 consists of a single rather screaming note, which from its tone I at first sup- 

 posed to be one of alarm, but soon discovered my error. At other times, 

 particularly about mid-day, the male sometimes selects a lofty pine branch, 

 and there attempts a song; but it is a miserable failure, and he seems conscious 

 of it, for he frequently pauses and looks discontented, then remains silent 

 sometimes for some minutes, and tries it again, but with no better success. 

 The note is a single warbling call, exceedingly like the early part of the 

 Robin's song, but not so sweet, and checked as though the performer were 

 out of breath. The song, if it may be so called, is to me a most wearisome 

 one: I am constantly listening to hear the stave continued, and am as con- 

 stantly disappointed. Another error of the books is this, — they both state 

 that the female is similar to the male in plumage. Now, this is entirely a 

 mistake: she is so very different in colour and markings, that were it not for 



