39

1916

(Evening Grosbeak) Early in the morning of May 4 [May 4, 1916] a solitary male Evening
Grosbeak paid our Farm a fleeting visit. He was first seen, just as were
sitting down to breakfast, crossing the open field in front of the house, with
low, undulating flight, to alight in the top of the big elm by the roadside
where he uttered loudly and incessantly the usual House-Sparrow-like call sometimes
closely followed by a rolling or chuckling whistled one. Soon after this he
flew across the road to a bushy wild apple tree growing by a wall near
the well house, perching on one of its outer, low drooping branches no more
than eight feet above the ground, where Gilbert and I approached him closely
(certainly to within 20 yards) and viewed him to excellent advantage, for
several minutes, in clear, well-diffused light, under an overcast sky.
Thus seen he seemed to possess an unusual amount of yellow, especially
on the back, and this of an exceptionally pale cast. There was also more
conspicuous white in his plumage than birds of his kind and sex commonly show.
His next flight, to and along the public roadway, terminated at the young
white oak that shades our mail box, in which he sat for a few moments
before rising high in air and crossing Lawrence's fields to extensive
woodland beyond where I had my final view of him perched on
the topmost spray of a tall chestnut, not less than four hundred yards
away and looking scarce bigger than a pin head, yet even from that distance
his harsh calls came faintly to my ears. Altogether we had him 
under observation for about ten minutes during which he sat bolt upright 
and never once shifted his foothold, when perched, while he called ceaselessly,
except when on wing, as if hoping to be answered by others of his
kind - which never happened. The harsh, sparrow-like note and the slow,
guttural, rolling whistle, already mentioned were the only utterances
heard on this occasion.
  On nearly if not precisely this same date a female Evening Grosbeak appeared
in Bedford village, as I afterwards learned from Mr. and Mrs. Blinn. They
report that it tried to enter a bird box close to their house, from which
it was driven away by some house sparrows. Of the sex they are quite certain,
having viewed it long and at near range.