This bird, though a common summer resident in the Great Salt Lake Valley, had all migrated, according to Mr. Allen, by the 1st of September. It is well known there as the Peabird, from its fondness for green peas, of which it is very destructive.
According to Dr. Cooper, this Grosbeak arrives in California, near San Diego, about April 12. It is numerous during the summer throughout the mountains both of the coast and of the Sierra Nevada, and extends its migrations at least as far as Puget Sound. It is often kept in confinement on account of its loud, sweet song. In the Coast Mountains, in May, its music is said to be delightful, the males vying with each other from the tops of the trees, and making the hills fairly ring with their melody.
Dr. Cooper found a nest of this bird, May 12, at the eastern base of the Coast Range. It was built in a low horizontal branch of an alder, and consisted of a few sticks and weeds, very loosely put together, with a lining of grass and roots. The eggs, three in number, he describes as of a pale bluish-white ground, thickly spotted with brown, more densely near the larger end. Their size he gives as .95 by .70 of an inch.
Dr. Cooper also states that they frequent the ground in search of food, but also live much on trees, feeding on their buds. They are not gregarious, assembling only in family groups in the fall. They do not fly high, nor do they make any noise in flying.
He has observed these birds at Santa Cruz April 12, or as early as he saw them at San Diego, three hundred and fifty miles farther south, and has found a young bird fledged as early as May 23.
Dr. Coues speaks of this bird as an abundant summer resident of Arizona, where it arrives by the first of May, and remains until the latter part of September. He speaks of it as frequenting the thick brush of the ravines and the cottonwood and willow copses of the river-bottoms. Its call-note resembles that of Lophortyx gambeli. Its song, he says, is superb,—a powerful, but melodious succession of clear, rich, rolling notes, reminding one somewhat of the Icterus baltimore.
Dr. Suckley speaks of this bird being sparingly found in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, Puget Sound, where he obtained two specimens.
Dr. Heermann speaks of the song of this bird as clear and musical, and as very closely resembling that of our Turdus migratorius. He describes its nests as formed with very little care, of twigs loosely thrown together, and lined with roots, placed in the branches of bushes. The eggs, four in number, he describes as of a greenish-blue ground, marked with irregular spots of umber-brown, varying in intensity of shade.
The song of the western species is described by Mr. Nuttall as fully equal, if not superior, to that of the Rose-breasted. He met with it on the central table-lands of the Rocky Mountains, along the upper branches of the Colorado River, where he found it frequenting the thick groves of the streams, and where, throughout its dense forests, the powerful song and the inimitable voice of this “most delightful Finch” cheered that naturalist amidst the wildest desolation of that “forest primeval,” where this superb vocalist made the woods echo and re-echo to its untiring song. These notes, greatly resembling those of its eastern relative, may be heard from early dawn almost even to the close of the following night. These are described as loud, varied, high-toned, and melodious, rising and falling with the sweetest cadence, fascinating the listener most powerfully with sensations of a pleasing sadness, its closing note seeming like a shrill cry of appealing distress, and then sinking faintly on the ear. It is described as very shy and retiring in its habits, and can be but very rarely observed closely while thus engaged in song. On these occasions the bird is said to sit up conspicuously on a lofty bough, near the summit of the tree, his throat swelling with the excitement, and seeming to take a great delight in the sound of his own music.
Mr. Sumichrast found this bird on the Plateau of Mexico, and also in the alpine regions of Vera Cruz. It was found to the height of 8,300 feet, and never lower than 4,000.