Evening star., 1944-03-22
This and That
By Charles E. Traceuell.
CHEVY CHASE, Md.

CHEVY CHASE, Md.
Dear Sir:
Please tell me the name of the fol-
lowing described birds which are now
eating from our window feeding tray.
Ihe males have the parrot beak like
the redbirds or cardinals. They are a
greenish yellow under their breasts and
half way down their backs; then starts
two white oblong designs about an inch
long, then black to their tails. On the
SIDE OF the wings from their breast to
the tip OF their wings Is a distinct black
stripe about one quarter Of an inch
wide. Their tail feathers are black and
about two inches long.
THE female bird is less pronounced
with the same markings.
Please give me the name of these
birds, if possible
Very truly yours, j. G. Du B."
This bird is probably the evening
grosbeak. 1t is an accidental visitor
from the Northwest A small flock of
half dozen was seen in early April,
1922, at Laurel, Md.
ABOUT dozen of them were seen on
April 81 at the National Geological Park.
Some OF these specimens remained here
until about the middle of May that year.
The rose-breasted grosbeak is more
often seen hereabouts, but it, too, is
rare. The evening grosbeak usually
comes East only when certain seeds of
which it is fond are scarce in its usual
habitat in the West.
The evening grosbeak is about inches
long, the males yellowish and black,
the females gray and black. The bill
is heavy and the tail comparatively
short, due to the black which runs
along the edges of the wings, combining
with the tail itself
According to the Book of Birds"
of the National Geographic Society, "at
irregular intervals, sometimes years
apart the birds move eastward and
southwark from their breeding grounds
and appear sometimes in large flocks
in New England and the Middle Atlantic
States, even as far South as WASH
ington, D. c."
This authority goes on to state Their
natural food is the seeds of ashes, box
elders and NAPLES, the pits of choke
berries and dogWoods, weed seed and
the seeds of conifers They will often
peck through frozen apples for the
pulp At feeding stations they seem
to prefer sunflower seeds and, in sum-
mer at least, have fondness for salt,
"A flock that found my feeding sta
ton in February, came regularly every
day until the first of May One could
almost set watch by the birds first ap-
pearance at $50 each morning. Their
chirping call notes made them sound
1jka o1nr;fol
The birds are rather swift in flight.
but on the ground or in trees they ap-
pear sluggish and pass a great deal
of time sitting quietly.
The pleasing name is based upon
the mistaken notion of the original
collector that the bird dwelt in dark
woods and came out only at evening to
sing"
The evening grOSbeak is the Ameri-
can relative to the famous haWfnch of
England
complete description of the male
evening grosbeak follows: Forehead and
stripe over the eye, yellow crown black;
rest OF head with neck and upper back,
plain olive, lighter and more yelloWiSh
olive on throat, changing gradually to
clear lemon yellow on shoulder and
rump and to lighter yellow on posterior
underpartS, the longer under tail
coVerts sometimes partly white: upper
tail-coverts, tail and wings, black; inner
wing quilts, white or pale grayish; bill,
light olive yellow or pale yellowish
green; iris, brown
This official description does not bring
out the noticeable white markings or
oblongs, as our correspondent calls them,
on the wings and back, or the line of
black which edges them and goes on
to the tail.
In 1916, the migration of these birds
into the East excited a great deal of
attention from ornithologists and lust
plain folks" alike. Large flocks of them
came to Portland, Me. in February of
that year and remained until May IL
This column has received reports of
them in past years from the Chevy
Chase neighborhood near Wisconsin
avenue.