130 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 1, NO. 2. 
as far south as southern Iowa and Kentucky. Small flocks have 
indeed 1)een reported from other parts of Wisconsin in the interval 
since 1890, as a flock of five at Appleton, March 14, 1891, and 
another of about a dozen at Delavan, from January 21 to March 
30, 1896, but in that period there seems to have been no general 
movement southeastward of these birds of the far northwest. As 
it is possible that their present wanderings may prove to^ be as 
extensive as those of 1887, '88, and '90, the notes that follow are 
given in the hope that they may assist in tracing the movements 
of these wandering flocks. 
On November 5th of last year, 1899, I o]:>served a solitary 
male of this species in a grove near Milwaukee-Downer College 
to the northeast of the city. It was flying restlessly from tree top 
to tree top, uttering a ringing metallic call and its large bill and 
peculiar markings were clearly distinguished through the field 
glass. Other single birds have been observed since then in the 
same locality and behaving in the same manner so that, although 
it was my first acquaintance with the species, I am satisfied there 
was no error in identification. 
No more were reported until February 12th, when a boy 
brought a male bird, that had been shot with an air gun, to the 
Milwaukee Public Museum. It had been secured on the South 
Side of the city and was alone when taken. Another male was 
received under somewhat similar circumstances on February i8th, 
and on February 19th Mr. P. H. Dernehl found a flock of twenty- 
two — the majority of which were full-plumage males — on North 
Ave. near Second Street, feeding in a group of box-elder trees 
(Acer A' cgiDido) ,a.nd a few blocks away met w^th four more, three 
of which were males. About February 5th, some boys had reported 
seeing a few large, yellowdsh-colored birds in the neighborhood 
of West Park, and on February 22d Mr. F. Kirchner found a 
flock of about a dozen grosbeaks in some evergreens just south 
of the park. On the morning of the 25th, I repaired to that 
locality and soon discovered, in a row of box-elder shade trees, a 
flock of twenty-five, sixteen of which were males in full plumage. 
Other places, where their favorite tree was abundant, were visited 
in the course of the day and in two cases successfully. A flock 
of eleven was found during the afternoon on Twxnty-third Street, 
about a mile from where the flock of the morning was seen. These 
also were in box-elder trees and nine of the eleven birds w^ere 
plainly males. Half a mile away on Wells Street, four more w^ere 
met W'ith, chasing one another among the elm trees, the males 
which were three in number, uttering their characteristic loud 
call-notes repeatedly as they flew. Whether the quieter colored 
birds — in brown and yellowish grey — of these flocks w^ere females 
