132 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 1, NO 2. 
seen at once holding leaves up in their bills and working them 
around and examining- them closely. They hopped familiarly 
along the board walk, mounted the steps and peered into the rear 
entrance of the house, but would not permit of my approaching 
them nearer than about thirty feet. Later they flew to a small 
maple and remained almost silent for a considerable time, and 
finally when I left them they were again in the box-elders, search- 
ing for any seeds that might have escaped their previous visits. 
Up to the time of writing these notes (April i6), this flock 
was the last known to have been in this vicinity. 
The evidence thus far given would seem to show, then, that 
during the months of November, December and Januar\-, a few 
male birds — the scouts of the main grosbeak army — were present 
in the neighborhood of the city. The first flocks appeared about 
February ist and were composed largely of males in full plumage 
and it is possible that many, if not all, of their sombre colored 
companions were also males — young immature birds. 
Their numbers steadily increased and must have reached a 
maximum about the middle of March when the proportion of the 
sexes was about equal and when the grosbeak population of Mil- 
waukee must have numbered many hundreds. Towards the end 
of the month their numbers appeared to diminish or at least the 
flocks were more difficult to find, and when found were composed 
chiefly of female birds, while the last companies that were noted 
here consisted exclusively of birds of that sex. Most of the ac- 
counts of former grosbeak visits agree in stating that but few full 
plumage males could be found in any of the flocks. The present 
migration must have been exceptional in this respect or else on 
former occasions the flocks could not have come imder observation 
during the early part of their visit. As has been already stated 
the majority of individuals in this locality during the month of 
February consisted of handsome specimens of the fully developed 
male. A box-elder tree occupied by a number of birds of this 
sex was an interesting sight on a bright winter morning. Their 
striking colors of yellow, black and white, stood out conspicuous — 
if the observer were close at hand, but at a greater distance their 
markings so blended into the yellowish tints of the smaller twigs 
and samaras and the stronger and darker lines of the branches, 
that in a tree well loaded with mast, the grosbeaks were almost 
unnoticeable. During this month they were tame and unsuspici- 
ous, allowing the observer sorhetimes to approach within two or 
three feet, but if the hand were reached out to seize one, he very 
quickly avoided it. They were somewhat indolent in their man- 
ner of feeding, perching at one place upon a branch and reaching 
out on all sides for the seeds until no more were within reach, when 
