218 
EVENING- GROSBEAK. 
female remained utterly unknown until it was obtained by Mr. Townsend, 
who found this Grosbeak abundant about the Columbia river, and procured 
a great number of specimens, several of which are in my possession. The 
following note from him contains all the information respecting its habits 
that I can lay before you. 
“ Columbia river, May 27, 1836. — -The Evening Grosbeak, Fringilla 
vespertina, is very numerous in the pine-woods at this time. You can 
scarcely enter a grove of pines at any hour in the day without seeing 
numbers of them. They are very unsuspicious and tame, and I have, in 
consequence, been enabled to procure a fine suite of specimens. The 
accounts that have been published respecting them by the only two authors 
to whom I have access, Mr. Nuttall and Prince Bonaparte, are, I think, 
in many respects, incorrect. In the first place, it is stated that they are 
retiring and silent during the day, and sing only on the approach of evening. 
Here they are remarkably noisy during the whole of the day, from sunrise to 
sunset. They then retire quietly to their roosts in the summits of the tall 
pines, and are not aroused until daylight streaks the east, when they come 
forth to feed as before. Thus I have observed them here, but will not say 
but that at other seasons, and in other situations, their habits may be differ- 
ent. They are now, however, very near the season of breeding, as the 
organs of the specimens I have examined sufficiently indicate. They appear 
fond of going in large bodies, and it is rare to see one alone in a tree. They 
feed upon the seeds of the pine and other trees, alighting upon large limbs, 
and proceeding by a succession of hops to the very extremities of the 
branches. They eat, as well as seeds, a considerable quantity of the larvae 
of the large black ant, and it is probable that it is to procure this food that 
they are not uncommonly seen in the tops of the low oaks which here skirt 
the forests. Their ordinary voice, when they are engaged in procuring food, 
consists of a single rather screaming note, wffiich from its tone I at first sup- 
posed to be one of alarm, but soon discovered my error. At other times, 
particularly about mid-day, the male sometimes selects a lofty pine branch, 
and there attempts a song; but it is a miserable failure, and he seems conscious 
of it, for he frequently pauses and looks discontented, then remains silent 
sometimes for some minutes, and tries it again, but with no better success. 
The note is a single warbling call, exceedingly like the early part of the 
Robin’s song, but not so svfeet, and checked as though the performer were 
out of breath. The song, if it may be so called, is to me a most wearisome 
one : I am constantly listening to hear the stave continued, and am as con- 
stantly disappointed. Another error of the books is this — they both state 
that the female is similar to the male in plumage. Now, this is entirely a 
mistake: she is so very different in colour and markings, that were it not for 
