2S Bulletin oi- the ' 



NOTE:S FROM THE FIELD AND MUSEUM. 



NOTES ON A I'LOCK OI' EVENING GROSBEAKS. 



At Menomonie in the norih-ccntral part of Wisconsin, during the winter 

 and spring of lUO.J, 1 had the pleasure of observing the habits of a flock of 

 Evening Grosbeaks {Coccothraiisics vespcrtinus.) One perfect winter day, 

 about the middle of January, when the blue shadows of the morning lay 

 across stretches of almost unbroken snow, and the air was full of sparkling 

 crystals, my walk was interrupted by a chorus of sharp bird notes, and in 

 a tree near by, 1 saw a flock of some sixteen of these striking beauties. 



The black crown of the adult males shades off on the side of the head 

 to a grecmsh-brown, and on the neck and body to a beautiful greenish- 

 yellow. There is a bright yellow mask over the eyes. The long feathers of 

 the wings and tail are black, and some of the short feathers of the wings are 

 snow white, making a round white spot on the upper part of them. In the 

 younger males the coloring" is not so bright, and the females are grey with a 

 slightly sulphurish wash, while the black and the white feathers of the 

 wings and tail are more or less intermingled. The characteristic which en- 

 abled me to identify these strangers was their immense heavy bills. These bird.-; 

 measure two inches shorter than a robin, but the larger body and shorter 

 tail make ihcm look like a larger bird. They are much like a parrot in 

 shape and movement, sitting erect, and moving slowly, except in their flight, 

 which is very swift. Their principal article of diet was the winged seeds of 

 the box elder which cling' to the trees all winter, though I saw them 

 occasionally in cedar-trees. 



One of the neighbors had a box of sand in her yard, at the south side of 

 the house, where it was sheltered from the snow and warmed by the sun, 

 and here the birds came frequently to nestle in the sand, like barn-yard fowl. 

 They were very tame when they first appeared, permitting a close approach, 

 but I soon found that "man's dominion had broken nature's holy union," 

 and some cruel experience had taught them to beware of human kind. I 

 saw the flock in one part of the city or another all winter, but by the last 

 of April, as the nesting season approached, they became more or less scat- 

 tered, and I frequently saw one or two alone. They remained until about 

 the middle of May and then flew away to the woods of Canada to nest. 



Edith Van Valkenburch. 

 Grand Rapids, Mich.. January, nth, IQ04. 



[The winter of 190:>-4 has been marked by a flight of both the Evenings 

 and Pine Cirosbeaks, and records have been received from many points 

 throughout the Great Lake region. Mr. Ruthven Deane, of Chicago, writes •. 

 "We have had a sprinkling of both Pine and Evening Grosbeaks this winter. 

 I saw a Robin December 2r)th some twenty-five miles north of the city — 

 temperature at the time was ten below zero." Last winter there was a 

 great flight of the Snowy Owl, but no records of the Pine Grosbeak. This 

 winter it has just been vice-versa. — Edk.] 



