106 
Vol. XV 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PINE GROSBEAK IN UTAH 
By EDWARD and A. O. TREGANZA 
WITH THREli PHOTOS BY THE AUTPIORS 
T he following may be of interest, as it is germane to Mr. Milton S. Ray’s 
article on the California Pine Grosbeak in Thi; Condor of September is- 
sue, 1912. 
July and August of 1907 brought us our first knowledge of the Rocky Moun- 
tain Pine Grosbeak (Piiiicola enuclcator inontana), while we were camping in 
the Wasatch Mountains at an altitude of 8500 feet. It was our first trip to the 
higher mountains in search of any material other than the Nutcracker, whose 
trail we had followed in pi'evious years during early March and April. Hence we 
were hardly prepared for the abundance of bird life that met ns at every turn. 
We were in a maze of all things new. So the season passed with a goodly num- 
ber of identifications and a working knowledge of the country from the pussy- 
willow marshes of 7500 feet to the barren, rocky peaks of the ii,ooo-foot divide 
that drops away to the Rockies. While but little was definitely learned this year 
concerning the habits or the whereabouts of the nesting of P. e. inontana, each 
year since, up to and including 1912, we have followed, watched, and noted, with 
that increasing, tantalizing interest, yet ever hopeful for a more intimate knowl- 
edge, this vagrant who crosses our path unawares, always with that seeming 
disregard of our presence, flaunting in the bright sunshine a sheen of brilliantly 
illumined crimson or gold, as the color phase may be, only to be lost in tne deep- 
ening shadows of the conifers. 
Many times after a grueling half day, we ha\'e wearily dropped to a fallen 
tree to commiserate on our fruitless search of the morning, meanwhile satisfying 
the inner man with a whole- wheat slug and its accompanying handful of nut- 
meats and raisins ; when from out of the somewhere, but to us nowhere, we see 
a shimmer, as it were, of sunshine dropped through the foliage, and there on a 
nearby conifer is our bird preening; and while we w'atch this gorgeous display 
of red and gold, the female in sombre grays and browns, coming unheralded, 
alights with lowered, quivering body and fluttering outstretched wings expectant 
of her mate’s wooing — a moment or two of lovers’ greetings, and they are off 
over the stony point of the mountain — to their nest? 
Almost identical in general observations are our field notes on P. e. mon- 
tana, with Mr. Ray’s findings concerning P. e. calif ornica, regarding time of 
breeding, situation of nest, actions and mannerisms of the birds, etc. We, there- 
fore, omit our general field notes of the past vears and confine ourselves to a 
description of one of the three pairs carefully noted and observed this year, 
thinking to possibly add some little information regarding nest building and mat- 
ing. 
From the field notes of Edward Treganza: June 21, 1912. — Today I went 
up American Fork Creek following an old roadway which led me to a deserted 
miner’s camp, and mine named Iowa Copper, where I found much snow ana lit- 
tle signs of new' spring growth. Chickadees, Williamson Sapsuckers, Tree Swal- 
low's, and Cassin Purple Finches were much in evidence. As I came up to the 
empty cabin, a House Wren flew out. I entered, to find her home in a small cup- 
board back of a whisky bottle, but no eggs. While sitting on a box in the door- 
way to rest, and watch the wren a few minutes, my eye was attracted to a rnticli 
larger bird which alighted on the roof of the stable, some distance away; resting 
