Mar., 1910 
NESTING OF THE WESTERN EVENING GROSBEAK 
61 
careful watch for the next few years, I was only fortunate enough to see one pair. 
That was the last of May, 1908 in Ramsey Canyon of the Huachuca Mountains. 
The spring of this year opened with two heavy snow storms on March 10 and 
16, during the height of the migration of many northern birds. This delayed some 
of them several weeks and occasional pairs of several species which usually pass on 
entirely stayed to breed. The Western Evening Grosbeak was one of the species 
thus affected. Several Pine Siskins and one pair of Townsend Solitaires were also 
present and evidently nesting. 
On May 30, while returning from a long tramp on the west slope of the 
mountains, I heard the unmistakable note of an Hesperiphona and saw a pair fly 
into a large pine tree which stood by itself in the bed of the canyon. They soon 
flew down into the brush, to the ground, and then back to the pine, the male fol- 
lowing the female. I watcht them make several trips and was then compelled to 
leave them and hurry on toward my distant camp. They were building, the female 
carrying all the nesting material. I made a note to return for the set in ten days. 
My chief occupation now became a watch for this rare and beautiful bird. 
Fig. 21. NEST OF THK WESTERN EVENING GROSBEAK 
June 1, while investigating a small side canyon in quest of Buff-breasted Flycatch- 
ers I heard the Grosbeak again and saw a pair flying off up the mountain side. 
They went over the ridge and out of sight. I sat down to rest a bit and await 
results. In about ten minutes I heard the female again and saw her fly into a 
small pine about one hundred yards below me. She alighted on one of the lower 
branches and sat perfectly still for some five minutes, neither moving nor making 
a sound. Then she walked along the branch and disappeared. I was promptly on 
foot and soon stood at the base of the tree. The nest with the bird on it was in 
plain sight thirty-five feet above me. 
Strapping on my climbers I started up the tree with my camera and rope but 
she flew before I got up, and would not return. I placed my camera in position 
about twelve feet from the nest and descended, but a strong wind came up and I was 
afraid the eggs would be thrown from the nest; so after about fifteen minutes’ 
waiting for her to return I climbed up again and took a picture of the nest and 
eggs alone, also a snapshot of the female as she sat on the dead top of a pine tree 
about fifty feet away. She was very noisy and restless, flying about from tree to 
