The Evening Grosbeak at Beverly, Mass

Abstract

The Evening Grosbeak in Central New York in April. On April i i a neighbor described to me two birds which she had seen in the fruit trees in her yard so accurately that I had no doubt that she had seen a. pair of Evening Grosbeaks (Hesperiphona vestertina). A later search failed to reveal them that day, however, but on the following day I was sent for, and on nearing the place heard their curious notes, and had no difficulty in finding the birds. They were quite tame, and I watched them for a long time. They spent most of the time on the ground or in the lower branches of the trees, and the male in particular seemed very partial to the shriveled and discolored apples that lay on the ground or clung to the branches. Whether he ate the pulp or the seeds I could not tell positively. In the winter of 19O1-o2 these birds were quite common here, but I have since had no report of them until the present instance, and I was surprised to see them here this year after the spring had broken and all the earlv birds were starting their nesting. Louis AGASSIZ FuTERTES, Ithaca, NV. Y.