Voi. xiiq 
1895 J 
Brewster on the Pine Grosbeak. 
2 49 
only a few rods away, ran through the flocks at frequent 
intervals. When a number of birds took flight suddenly and 
simultaneously this sound was often given by most if not all of 
them at once. It resembles the whistling of the wings of a flock 
of Carolina Doves and also, if the air be still and the birds very 
near at hand, the rolling flight note of the Snow Bunting. The 
loud peer of the Grosbeaks is not unlike another call of the Snow 
Bunting when it is heard distinctly, but at a distance it may be 
easily mistaken for the cry of a Blue Jay. It seems to serve 
both as an alarm note and to call the scattered members of a 
flock together, and it is sometimes used during flight, but the 
usual flight call consists of two, or sometimes three notes, given 
quickly in a descending series like those of the Greater Yellow- 
legs ( Totanus melanoleucus ) — which they slightly resemble in 
tone as well as form. This call may be written “tee-t ’yeh, tee- 
tee-t’yeh,” or “ tee-t’yeh-te.” A fourth call defies rendering by 
letters, but may be fairly described as a loud rich chuckle or 
chuckling whistle of from two to four syllables. This I usually 
heard from a single bird perched on the top of a tree near some 
tempting supply of food to which, as it seemed, he was trying 
to attract the attention of distant comrades. It was not often 
used. Some birds which I noosed made, when first caught, a 
rather loud, continuous, squealing or squawking outcry very 
like that of a Robin in the clutches of a Hawk. A sixth vocal 
sound, which completes the list, was a low, harsh, grating cry, 
uttered only, I believe, when two birds were quarreling. 
The Grosbeaks often fell out over some choice morsel of food 
and indulged in a brief, harmless squabble threatening each 
other with open bills and half-spread wings, and occasionally 
giving or receiving a feeble peck or two. In the main, however, 
they were unmistakably gentle and amiable in disposition, placid 
if not phlegmatic in temperament, social and affectionate in 
their relations to their own kind, and in their attitude towards 
man almost wholly free from fear or even suspicion. 
Nevertheless they were subject to frequent and sudden panics. 
The crack of a whip, the barking of a dog, the slamming of a 
door, or even so slight a sound as the click of a camera shutter, 
frequently caused them to scatter, and dash off in the wildest 
i 
