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THE EVENING GROSBEAK. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
\ While making a professional visit one mile from the 
| tillage on Feb. 14, my attention was called to the piping 
I a strange bird by a lady patient, with the request 
j , . , f o° something to keep it still, as it had annoyed her 
| all the morning. On leaving the house I heard the sharp, 
shrill note repeated at intervals of about one minute and 
saw a stranger sitting in a maple tree. After some delay 
1 secured a gun and shot the bird. Great was my sur- 
prise when I picked it up to find I had secured a fine 
female evening grosbeak. The bird was evidently alone, 
as the lady who called my attention to it. informed me 
that she had heard the bird since daylight, and it had 
been constantly piping its single note, until I came to the 
rescue about 11 A. M. A careful search failed to detect 
the presence of any other birds, I mounted the specimen, 
and it will hold a conspicuous place in my cabinet. This 
is the second instance of the capture of this bird in Che- 
mung county, as far as I know, the other one having 
! b ® en reported by Edward Swift, of Elmira, in December, 
1887 - J. W. Gee, M.D. 
Van Ettenville, N. Y., Feb. 15. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The evening grosbeak, which has attracted so much 
attention of late, .made his first visit here this season Dec. 
15, a second flock Jan. 15 and another flock of six Jan. 23; 
m fact I have seen them almost continually since their 
arrival until the present, my boy having seen them to- 
day feeding upon the red cedar berries as usual. I have 
preserved in all twelve fine specimens, males, females 
and young. I dissected all of them carefully and found 
their stomachs to contain only the berries of the red cedar. 
I also noticed that the flesh smelled very strong of the 
same. Generally these birds were very tame, allowing me 
to approach within a few feet without causing any alarm, 
and thdn again, at first sight they would all leave the 
tree in a body, uttering a rather loud whistle, flying high 
in the air, to return again in the course of a half hour. 
They seem to be a very restless bird. 
I do not think the heavy snow in the West (as reported) 
has anything to do with their migration here, as you 
know they have very heavy snows there every year. 
This is, I believe, the second appearance of this” species 
here in Ohio since 1860, when Dr. Kirtland. took several 
specimens. Albert Hall. 
Lake Wood, Ohio, Feb. 11. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Sometime during the winter of 1886-87 1 secured four 
specimens of the evening grosbeak, one full plumaged 
old male and three females. I shot them all at one shot 
and they comprised the entire flock. I did not know 
then what I had killed, but surmised it was the pine gros- 
beak. I mounted the male and two of the others and 
have two of them in my collection yet. The other I gave 
to a friend. The birds are the only ones I ever saw 
either alive or dead, and I do not know as they have 
been taken in this part of Ohio before. I described the 
! male to a taxidermist of Cleveland and he said it was a 
pine grosbeak, but when I saw the cut of the evening 
grosbeak in Coues’s “Key” I discovered the mistake. 
Seville, Ohio, Feb. 15. CHIPPEWA. 
— 
j Editor Forest and Stream: 
While strolling on the banks of the Des Plaines River, 
on Jan. 28, about eight miles from the city hall, Chicago, 
111., I saw a single bird in a large elm near the water’s 
edge. Having a ,32cal. Stevens pocket rifle, with shot 
cartridges to match, slung to my shoulder, I collected 
the bird and found the poor unfortunate, as I had thought, 
a stranger tome. Upon returning to my den I looked 
