Western Evening Grosbeak at Hayward, California
Western Evening Grosbeak at Haywards, Cal.
The early morning of December 29, 1900, brought in a new record for this part of Alameda County (Haywards), if not for the county at large, no other records as yet having been made of the Western Evening Grosbeak, (Coccothraustes v. montanus). The birds’ loud, whistling notes first attracted my attention, as they flew into an almond tree, seeming to rest from a long flight. Some twenty birds were in the flock and only one was shot before they were off, calling as they flew. The one collected proved to be a female in the winter plqmage, of grayish color, showing a few yellowish-green feathers in one side of the neck. The crop was full of willow buds, showing that they had lately fed, no doubt among the creek willows below the orchard. This form of the Evening Grosbeak is found commonly every winter through the Santa Cruz Mountains of the coast range, across the bay west of Haywards. I found them common among the pines at Monterey, Cal., in the latter part of November, 1896, particularly in the early morning, or at day-break.
W. OTTO EMERSON
Haywards, Cal., Jan. 1901.
