Plumage Coloration and Age of Evening Grosbeaks

Vol. XXII 1951 PARKS,Plumage Coloration and Age o] Grosbeaks [23

REFERENCES BALDWIN,S. P., .H.C. OnERHOLS•;gAND L. g. WORLEY 1931 Measurements of birds. Sci. Pub. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., 2: 1-165. BANZHAF, E. 1937 Zur Schnabel und Iris Fi/rbung beim Star (S•urnus v. vulgaris L.). Vogelzug, 8: 114-116. BULLOUGH,W. S. 1942a On the external morphology of the Britis.h ,and Continental races of starling (Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus). Ibis, 6: 225-239. ].942b'the reproductive cycles of theBritish and Continental races of the starling. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, Series B, 231: 165-246, DWIGHT, JONATHAN,JR. 1900 The sequenceof plumages and moults of the passerincbirds of New York. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 13: 73-360. HARRISON,J. M. 1928 The colour of the soft parts of the starling. Brit. Birds, 22: 36-37• HICKS, LAWRENCEE. 1934 Individual and sexual variations in the European starling. Bird- Banding, 5: 103-118. MILLER, ALDEN H. 1946 A methodof determiningthe ageof live passerinebirds. Bird-Banding, 17: 33-35. NICHOLS, JOHN T. 1945 Annual bill-color cycle of the starling. Bird-Banding,16: 29-32. WITSCHI, E., AND R. A. MILLER 1938 A•nbisexualityin the female starling. Jour. Exper. Zool., 79: 475-487, Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

PLUMAGE COLORATION AND AGE OF EVENING GROSI•EAKS By G..HAPGOOD PARKS During the six wintersthat EveningGrosbeaks (Hesperiphona vespertina vespertinaCooper) have cometo our bandingstation at Hart- ford, Connecticut,we have trappedand banded2,867 of them. These bandedbirds have suppliedus with 2,417 repeat recordsand 36 of themhave returned to us againduring some season subsequent to its banding. Ninety-oneforeign recoveries have also beentrapped. In short,we have actuallyheld in our hand on not lessthan 5,411 distinct occasions,one of thesefascinatingly temperamental, gloriously plu- magedbirds. Someof ourexperiences have already been described in Bird-Banding, in the Bulletinof the Maine AudubonSociety, and in AudubonMaga- zine. Each seasonhas broughtits new adventure. First, there was the thrilling experienceof becomingacquainted, of learning how best to attract and trap thesebirds, and how to handlethem without inviting more than that necessaryminimum of pain whichthe amplemandibles of excitable individuals can inflict. Another winter afforded us the opportunityof studyingvocal characteristics,food preferences,and individual temperaments. Still another seasonrevealed to us the miracle of the pigmentationchange in their mandibleswhich accom- paniesthe approachof spring. Then we felt the challengeof learning how to distinguishwith certaintythe immatureindividuals from the adults. 24] PAaKS,Plumage Coloration and .4ge o] GrosbeaksBird-Banding January

Availableliterature produced almost no helpfulinformation. During the 1945-46invasion we had tried unsuccessfullyto uncoversome evi- dencein justificationof •Dr. A. A. Allen'sstatement that ,theyoung males"retain their juvenilewings and tails until the followingfall." This statementindicated to us that malesof the year shouldstill have wingsand tails similar to thoseof the femaleswhen they reachedour traps. Our inexperienceprevented us from interpretingthe statemen.t meaningfully,however, and, as a result,we becameconfused by observations which seemedrepeatedly to be in conflict with each other. We learned,at least,that individualplumages varied widely, but, with so many other fascinatingthings to observe,our divided attention discoveredneither rhyme nor reasonin this variation. Our relative inexperiencewith this specieshad, at first, led us, for lackof a distinguishingfeature, to classifyas "adult"any bird capable of making the long fliffht to Hartford from the breedingrange. We admittedthat this decisionlacked seriouslyof scientific,logic and truth, so we resolvedto make a systematicplumage study of these birdsin an attemptto discoverany characteristicswhich might reveal, with somedegree of consistency,the age of the individual. We had alreadyexamined all availableliterature and had failed to find more than the Allen statementwhich has alreadybeen quoted in part. More completely,he wrote: "Young Evening Grosbeaks,when they leavetheir nests,all resembletheir mother,but beforewinter the maleshave acquiredtheir yellow body feathers,though they retain their juvenile wingsand tails until the followingfall." We decided to renew our searchfor instanceswhich might justify this statement and, if possible,to amplify it to includemarks for distinguishingthe agesof femalesas well.

THE STUDY OF MALE PLUMAGES We choseto focusour attentionupon three male plumage characters whichwere capable of beingstudied with reasonableconsistency. They were the presenceof: (1) black areas on the white tertial feathers of the wings,(2) yellowfringes on thesesame tertial feathers,and (3) white areason the blacktail feathers. Throughoutour studywe found no reasonto modify this original choice,although infrequent additional featureswere noted as, for example,some distinct variation in the color of the under tail-coverts,the presenceof white or yellow or black tips (which looked like tiny "leopard spots") on some of the upperand undertail-coverts, and, very late in the study,the presence of white areason the black wing pri.maries. During this season's•liffht of EveningGrosbeaks, which lasted at our stationfrom February 4 to May 22 (1950), we examineda total of 38l males. Of this number,362 wereapparently being trapped for the first time, for they wore no bands,16 were recoveriesfrom other sta- tions, and the other three were returns. Our three returns and the two recoveries which bad been banded prior to .thepresent season gave us, of course,most valuableobserva- tionsupon which to basejudgment regarding the plumagecharacteristics of maleEvening Grosbeaks which were unquestionablyadult. So let us summarize these observations first of all. ¾ol. XXII 1951 PARKS,Plumage Coloration and Age o! Grosbeaks [25

TABLE I BANDED ADULT MALE EVENING GROSBEAKS RECOVERED AT HARTFORD• CONNECTICUT Mini- mum Age Band No. Banded •by Date At Recovered (yEs.) 41-219192 W. P. Wharton Feb. 24, 1942 Groton, Apr. 19, 1950 8•/• Mass. 44-201582 (author) Dec. 15, 1945 Hartford, Mar, 4, 1950 4•/• Conn. 44-214693 (author) Dec. 30, 1945 Hartford, •ar. 18, 1950 4•/• Conn. 40-232556 (author) Jan. 7, 1947 Hartford, May 3, 1950 31/.._, Conn. 48-228836 G.D.,Chamberlain Apr. 20, 1949 Presque, Feb. 4, 1950 Isle, Me. A study of the three plumagecharacters as revealedby thesefive adult malesgave the followingdata:

TABLE II

PLU5IAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF FIVE ADULT I-•IALE EVENING GROSBEAKS Band _No. 41-219192 44-201582 44-214693 40-232556 48-228836 Minimum age (yEs.) 8« 4« 4« 3« 1« a. 'Black on white teErials tiny bit very faint none faint none b. Yellow fringes on tertials trace faint medium trace (no record) c. White on tail feathers none none none none none The number•of records reported above is admittedlytoo few to be at all conclusive,but it is of interestto note the perfectuniformity of character(c) and the distinctsimilarity of characters(a) and (b) amongthese five males. Inconclusivethough it may be, suchcon- sistencywithin even so small a group may certainlybe acceptedas indicative of a trend. Of the 394 maleswhich, during this season,were releasedwearing our bands for the first time, 32 were banded at a Hartford substation by E. A. ,Carrier. (AlthoughMr. Carrier reportedhis data on the plumagesof the birds he banded,it has been consideredinadvisable to includethem in this studysince we foundit impossibleto institute a control which would assureentirely consistentobservations at the two disconnectedstations.) The tails of six other males which we examinedwere so badly soiledthat it was impossibleto determine accuratelywhether any whitenessexisted near the tips of the feathers. Anothermale was trapped with all of his tail feathersmissing. So we were left with 355 malesupon which to base any conclusionswhich our observationsmight indicate. The followingtable showsthe distributionof the threecolor charac- teristicsas determinedby an examinationof the plumagesof these355 maleEvening Grosbeaks. TABLEnI COLOR CHARACTERISTICS OF 355 MALE EVENING GROSBEAK PLUMAGES (a) (b) (c) (d) None Faint Medium .Conspicuous A. Black on white tertials 115 81 121 38 B. Yellow fringe on •rhite tertials 58 137 1 •9 11 C. White on •)lack tail feathers 170 109 53 23 26] PARKS,Plumage Coloration andAge o/ GrosbeaksBird-BarteringJanuary

It takeslittle more than a cursoryexamination of the abovetable to reveal the fact that no significantcorrelation exists among the three characters studied. To discover whether combinations of these characters might providethe answerto our problemof ascertainingthe age of the bird throughits plumagecoloration, we took each of the sub- divisions((a), (b), (c), and (d)) of Group A from Table III and subdividedit further accordingto the relative presenceof characters B and C. For example,males having no black on their tertials were dividedinto groupsaccording to whetherthe tertialsshowed no yellow fringeswhile the tail feathersshowed no white, faint white, medium,or conspicuouswhite areas. Likewise,those having no black on their tertials, but revealingfaint yellow, medium yellow, or conspicuous yellowfringes on the tertialswere similarly subdividedaccording to the absenceor prevalenceof white on the tail feathers,and so forth. In this mannerwe were able to classifyour three characteristicsinto a possible64 differentcombinations of degree. When our recorded data had been so distributed it was learned that only 44 of thesepossible character combination patterns were repre- sented, as follows:

TABLE IV

COLOR CHARACTER COMBINATIONS OF 355 MALE PLUMAGES

D, E. F. G. No black Faint Medium Conspicuous on terti•als black on black on black on tertials tertials tertials e. No yellow, no white 31 8 5 f. No yellow, faint white 4 3 1 1 g. No yellow, medium white 1 h. No yellow, conspicuouswhite ...... 3 ...... L Faint yellow, no white 44 16 7 j. Faint yellow, faint white 6 15 21 2 k. Faint yellow, medium white 2 3 12 4 1. Faint yellow, conspicuouswhite •2 '• 3 m. Mediumyellow, no white !6 16 16 6 n. Medium yellow, faint white 3 15 27 8 o. Medium yellow, medium white ...... 2 20 6 p. Medium yelloa½,conspicuous white ...... •2 5 5 q. Conspicuousyellow, no white 3 r. Conspict•ousyellow, faint white 1 ...... 1 1 s. Conspicuousyellow, medium white ...... t. Conspicuousyellow, conspicuouswhite ...... 1 ...... 2

115 81 121 38

It is apparentfrom Table IV that there is, in general,a definite decrease in the distinctness of the white areas on the black tail feathers asany black area on thewhite tertials also decreases. Of the 196 males (.D plusE) havingnot morethan faint blackon their tertials,only 60 (30.6%) revealedany whiteat all on the tail feathers,and only 13 (6.6•o) of theseshowed the whitesufficiently for it to be recordedas morethan faint. On the otherhand, of the 159 males(F plusG) whose whitetertials showed medium or conspicuousblack areas, 125 (78.6•) had at leastfaint white on the black tail feathers,and in 63 (39.6•) of Vol. XXII 1951 PARKS,Plumage Coloration and Age o! Grosbeaks [27 thesecases the white areas were definite enough to be recorded as mediumor conspicuous. The intensityof the yellow color fringing the tertials showedsome tendencyto parallelthe intensityof the white on the tail feathers. This trend,however, revealed so many irregularitiesas to renderthe character unreliablefor our intendedpurpose. Lookingback to Table I for just a momentlet us recall that eachof thosedefinitely adult birds possessednot more than faint black on the whitetertials and no white at all on the blacktail feathers. If we may acceptthis as a normalplumage condition for adult male membersof this species,our Table IV seemsto revealto us some133 maleswhich are distinctlyadult (De, Di, Dm, Ee, El, and Em), and 31 otherswhich are also apparently,but not certain,ly,adult (Dq, Fe, Fi, and Fro). Similarly, if we are willing to acceptthe presenceof black on the tertialsand white on the tail feathersas indicativeof immaturity,we find 63 maleswhich seem to be distinctlyimmature (Eg, .F_h,Fk, Fp, •_p,F.s_, Gk, G1, Go, Gp, and G_t). Those 61 individual•included in groups Ff, Fj, Fn, Fr, Gj, Gn, and Gr, can also, with reasonable accuracy,be classifiedas immature. So we have classified,it seems,some 288 of our 355 males, but we find ourselvesuncertain about groups Dr, Dg, Dj, Dk, D1, Dn, Dr, El, Ej, Ek, En, Eo, Ep, Et, Gf, and Gm, a total .of 67 individualswhose plumagefails to reveal their maturity in terms of the three characters we choseto study. We need other substantiatingcharacteristics, perhaps, such as the two which came to our attentiontoo late to be incorporatedinto this investigation. One of theseinvolves the color of the under tail-coverts. Althoughnot enoughdata were gatheredto be conclusive,we believe that the faint, almostlemon-colored or whitish-yellowunder tail-coverts accompany the black-on-tertials-white-on-tail-featherscombinations, whereasthe deeper,richer "golds"accompany those plumage combina- tionswhich we haveconsidered to be typical of adult birds. The other embraces those areas of white which are to be discovered on the black primariesof someof the malesby spreadingapart the overlappedwing feathers.Just how far thesetwo charactersmay helpto reducethe size of our uncertain group must await some future opportunity for a continuationof this study.

THE STUDY OF FEMALE PLUMAGES At the beginningof our femaleplumage investigation we lostprecious time and manyvaluable data by concentratingon but a singlecharac- teristic,namely, the amountof yellow on the white wing bars. It was not until we had released313 females.that we trappedReturn female No. 45-200057.While handlingher our attentionwas attracted by the colorof her undertail-coverts. They werewhite with just enoughbuffy to give them a distinctlysilvery appearance. Since this bird had been bandedon March 13, 1946, she must now be at least 4% years old. Were these"silvery" under tail-covertsa mark of female adulthood? So we began,tardily, to pay heedto the color of femaleunder tail- covertsas well as to the amountof yellow on the wing bars. Then, after havingreleased an additional219 females,we awoketo the poten- 28] PARKS,Plumage Coloration and Age o! GrosbeaksBird-Banding January tialities of .a third characteristic. This time we noticed that there was a varying degreeof color contrastbetween the under tail-covertsand the patch of buffy-brownfeathers which extendeddown both sidesof the body, shelteringthe fleshyparts of the legs,and continuing,frequently,completely underneath the bird's belly. As earlier bandees repeatedwe added observationson the latter characteristicsto their previousrecords. Lightingproved to be a factorof major importanceparticularly in this studyof femaleplumages. The color of the under tail-covertsof the females showed a wide variation when examined under different lighting conditions. For this reasonwe attemptedto examine all of the birds by the light from a north door. Even this lighting, which changedwith the time of day and with weatherconditions, provided a variable over which we had no control, but which we tried to meet as consistentlyas possible. We realize,'too, that the termswe havechosen to usein describingrelative degreeare intangibleand that there is no perfectlyconsistent way of determiningor interpretingthem. We have been unsuccessfulin our attempts to devise a better terminology, however,and we hopethat our reader may be able to seewith reason- ableclarity what we saw. During this studywe examinedthe plumagesof 898 femaleEvening Grosbeaks. Of this number 848 were new bandees,45 were recoveries from otherstations, and five were returns. (Forty-fourfemales which were banded at Mr. Carrier's substation have been omitted here as were his males, and for the same reason.) Our five returnsand ten of the recoveriesprovided us with plumages which were unquestionablyadult. The two tableswhich now follow summarizethis group of adult femalesand their plumages.

TABLE V

BANDED ADULT FEMALE EVENING GROSBEAKS TRAPPED AT HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT Recov- ered at Mini- Hart- m,um ford Age Band 'No. Banded by Date At 1950 (yrs.) 39-206885 B. 'M. Shaub Mar. 18, 1949 Northampton,Mass. Mar. 1 I•A 46-218996 (author) Mar. 5, 1949 Hartford, Conn. Feb. 5 47-216991 Mrs. H. A. Drew Mar. 1, 1949 Barre, Vt. Mar. 5 1•/• 48-218505 (author) Mar. 6, 1949 Hartford, Conn. Feb. 20 48-218574 ( " ) A9r. 16, 1949 .... Mar• 16 48-218579 (" ) Apr. 17, 1949 .... May 3 48-226771 Mrs. H. A. Drew Apr. 16, 1949 Barre, Vt. Feb. 8 48-228344 B. M. Shau;b Mar. 31, 1949 Northampton,Mass. Mar. 14 48-228355 ...... Apr• 4, 1949 .... Mar. 22 138-112617 A. O. Gross Mar. 3, 1947 Brunswick, Me. Feb. 21 46-130580 B. M. Shat•b Mar. 26, 1947 i%rthampton, Mass• Feb. 20 3•,• 46-203380 E. M. Grout Jan. 11, 1947 Walpole, Mass. Feb. 7 47-100025 E• A. Mason May 8, 1947 Eastham,pton,Mass. Mar. 24 3% 45-200057 (author) Mar. 13, 1946 Hartford, Conn. Feb. 23 42-226484 M.J. Magee Oct. 28, 1945 S. Ste. Marie, Mich. May 2

A studyof the plumagesof thesefifteen adult femalessupplied the followingfacts: (* In the tableswhich follow, "contrast"refers to the ¾ol. XXII 1901 PARKS,Plumage Coloration and Age of Grosbeaks [29 degreeof color contrastbetween the under tail-covertsand the side- belly stripe.) TABLE • I

PLUMAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF FIFTEEN ADULT FEMALE EVENING GROSBEAKS Minimum Yellow on Color Degree Age white of under of Band No. (yrs.) wing bars tail-coverts contrast* 39-206885 1¾., medium buffy light gray (no record) 46-218996 1¾,., faint buffy medium gray (no record) 47-216991 1•_, faint bright buffy •nedium 48-218505 ll• faint i no record) i n.o record) 48-218574 ll/h faint buffy medium gray conspicuous 48-218579 11/_, faint buffy light gray conspicuous 48-226771 11/., faint i no rec.ord) (no record) 48-228344 1¾:• none buffy light gray faint 48-228355 ll/2 none silvery faint 138-112617 3•/h none buffy dusky faint 46-130580 3•/., faint I no record) i no record) 46-203380 355 •nedium (no record) (no record) 47-100025 31/_, conspicuous 'buffy light gray medium 45-200057 41/., faint silvery (no record) 42-226484 4•/., medium 'buffy light gray medium

Table VI revealsno very consistentcorrelation between the agesof these adult femalesand the plumagecharacteristics which we have studied. At least part of this apparentinconsistency may very well havebeen caused by our admittedinability to estimateand recordwith perfectuniformity the relative valuesof those.characteristics. And, besides,it should be rememberedthat we are certain only of the minimum agesof thesebirds. This latter fact shouldprevent us from attachingtoo much significanceto any consistency,or inconsistency, wl•ichmay seemto existamong the observationspertaining to the first nine birds (the "l•/2-year-olds") in this table. It is evident,however, in spite of the spreadamong our four "3•/.•-year-olds,"that the adult female Evening Grosbeakshere summarizedshow a distinct trend toward relativelylittle yellow on the white wing bars and relatively light-coloredunder tail-coverts. Let us now summarizethe observationswhich we madewhile handling 848 previouslyunbanded females. The apparentirregularity revealed by the totalsin the followingtable has alreadybeen explained as due to the fact that not all of the birds were examined for all three of the characteristics.

TABLE VII

PLUMAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE EVENING GROSBEAKS (a) (b) (c) (d) None Faint Medium Conspicuous A. Yellow on white wing bars 107 429 180 132 B. Buffy gray on under tail-coverts 105 233 220 63 C. Contrast* 23 108 232 24

Followinga ,proceduresimilar to that usedin the male studylet us now distribute the character combinations that were discovered in the 387 femaleplumages which we examinedfor all three characteristics. 30] P_•gKs,Plumage Coloration and Age o] GrosbeaksBird-BRnding January

TABLE VIII

COLOn CHARACTER COMBINATIONS OF 387 FEMA•LE PLUMAGES Under tail-coverts Amount6f yellowon white wing ,bars H. Io J. K. None Faint Medium Conspicuous e. kNogray, no contrast* 1 f. No gray, faint contrast 4 1 2 ...... g. No gray, medium contrast 4 35 h. No gray, conspicuouscontrast 2 10 1 i. Faint gray, no contrast 1 2 j. Faint gray, faint contrast 5 12 9 4 k. Faint gray, medium contrast 20 66 22 7 1. Faint gray, conspicuouscontrast 1 5 2 m. Medium gray, no ,contrast 1 1 5 4 n. Medium gray, faint contrast 3 22 13 12 o. Medium gray, inediuin contrast 3 37 13 12 p. Medium gray, conspicuous contrast 1 1 q. Conspicuousgray, no contrast 2 1 r. Conspicuousgray, faint contrast 2 9 s. Conspicuousgray, medium contrast 2 6 t. Conspicuousgray, conspicuous contrast

49 207 80 51 Thistable suggests a rather definite increase in thegrayhess of the undertail-coverts asthe conspicuousness of the yellow on the white wing barsalso increases. There is, too, an apparent,though not so con- sistent,parallel trend toward less color contrast between the side,belly stripe and the under tail-coverts. The followingtable showsthe spreadin plumagecharacteristics among 234 additional females not included in Table VHI. In these casesonly the amountof yellowon the whitewing bars and the color of the under tail-coverts were observed. It will be noted that the same general relationshipbetween these two charactersexists here as was found in Table VIII.

TABLE IX

COLOn CtIAaACTEa COMBINATIONS OF 234 ADDITIONAL FEMALE PLUMAGES Under tail-coverts Amount of yellow on white wing bars L. M. N. O. None Faint Medium Conspicuous a. No gray 11 20 8 4 b. Faint gray 13 46 12 6 c. Medium gray 3 43 27 19 d. Conspicuousgray 1 8 7 6

28 117 54 35

It will be rememberedthat early in our studyonly the amountof yellow on the white wing bars was recorded. Our final table which summarizes our observations of this one character on 227 female plumagesnot includedin TablesVIII andIX is addedmerely to make the storycomplete. ¾ol. 1951XXII PARKS,Plumage Coloration and Age of Grosbeaks [31

TABLE X

A•OUNT OF Y•.LI. OW ON W•NC hAaS OF 227 ADDITIONAL FEMALE EVENING GROSBEAKS Amount of yellow None Faint Medit,wa Conspicuous No. of individuals 30 105 46 46

Althoughwe find it more difficult'here than in the caseof the males to point out significantplumage-age correlations, we havebecome con- vincedthat the mature femalespossess the lighter coloredunder tail- covertsand that their white wing bars are less conspicuouslyedged with yellow. The degreeof contrastbetween the undertail-coverts and the side-bellystripe has not provedto be significant. As a resultof our studythis writer concludes,as follows,regarding the speciesHesperiphona vespertina vespertina: l. Young malestend to retain a considerable,though variable, area of black on the characteristicallywhite tertial feathers. 2. Thesesame young males tend to retain more or lessconspicuous white areas near the tips of their black tail feathers,and, in some cases,hidden areas of the black wing primariesmay alsobe more or lessconspicuously white. 3. Subsequentmolts evidentlyresult in an adult male plumage having little or no black on the tertials and no white at all on the tail feathersor on the wing primaries. We were unable to determine, however,just howconsistent is this changeor at what ageit is complete. 4. Regarding the females, a distinct trend was more difficult to discover. The most definitemark of femalematurity appearsto be the white, silvery, or buffy very light gray under tail-coverts. This conditionwas accompanied,most frequently,by not more than faint yellow-on the white wing bars. 5. The younger femaleswere characterizedmore frequentlyby a combinationof medium or conspicuousyellow on the wing bars and more gray or dusky on the under tail-coverts,but, as in the males,it was impossibleto determinethe exact age signifiedby any particular degreeof coloration. 5. So many individuals of both sexeselude this systemof age classificationas to make it rather inconclusive.It is hoped,however, that an acceptablestart has been made which may be modified and improvedas a greater amountof comparativedata is obtainedfrom future possiblerecoveries or returnsof thesebirds. We wishto acknowledgemost sincerely the valuedassistance and the inspirationwhich came during the seasonfrom thosebanders and in- terestedobservers with whom we correspond. Especialthanks are due Hazel C. Parks for her unflaggingcooperation throughout the bandingof thesebirds and the recordingof the many observations, and. too. for her final constructivecriticism of this paper.

REFERENCES ALLEN, ART•VR A. 1937, In Grosvenor and Wetmore, The Book of Birds, 2: 251. PARKS, G. HAPCOOD 1945, Evening Grosbeaks at Hartford, Connecticut. Bird-B•nding, 16(1): 32-35, January'. 1946. Evening Grosbeak Observations. Maine Audubon Society Bulletin, 2, no. 3: 71-74, July. Bird-Banding 32 ] GeneralNotes january

1947, The Evening GrosbeaksReturn to Hartford. Bird-Banding, 18(2): 57-76, April. 1948, EveningGrosbeaks ¸hoose Their LipsticksWell. AudubonMagazine, 50, no. 2: 110-112, March-April. 99 Warrenton Avenue, Hart/ord, Connecticut.

GENERAL NOTES Proposed Regional Colors for Evening Grosbeaks.raThe United States Fish and Wildlife Servicesuggests the discontinuanceof the use of celluloid bands, becauseof reported injuries to birds and the uncontrolla.bleand highly varia.b•e colors of the •materi,al. The Service has asked the MassachusettsAudubon S•>ciety to co-operatein making availa,bl.e to bandersa new type of coloredalumintm• band. These are in stock at Audubon House, 155 Newbury Street, ,Boston 16. The sizes availalblecorrespond to the regular band sizes of 1, 1A, 2, 3, and 6. 3•he cost is $1.50 for a string of one ,hundredbands, except that size 6 costs$2.00 per hundred. The colorsavailable are red, gold, blue, and green,and eventually others will be added. It is thereforeproposed that color bandsfor Evening Grosbeaks(Hesperii>hona vespertina) be used on a regional basis as follows: GREEN: Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshireand Northern New York (Area north of the line delineatedby Route 29 from its easternterminus to Middle- ville; thence Route 28 to Trenton (,Barneveld P.O.); thence from Trenton along a line running westerly to Taberg on Route 69; thence along Routes 69 and 13 to Lake Ontario. Cities on the line belong in the region using gold). GOLD: Massachusetts and Central New York (Sout.h of the area .de- fined under "GREEN," and north of the northern boundary of Pennsylvaniaand a line extendingfrom the northern boundary of Pennsylvaniato the southern boundary of Massachu- setts), BLUE: Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long IsMnd. RE,D: Pennsylvania,New Jersey,Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and New York south of the area de- fined under "GOLD." BLA'CK: Ontario, Michigan (except upper peninsula). SILVER: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and the upper peninsula of Michigan. It is suggestedt'hat the new 1A band would be best for Evening Grosbeaks. The colored aluminum .bandsare of vhe same temper as the 1A bands whioh just recently were made available. In 1949-50 quite a few reports were received of Number 2 bands being partially opened. The new 1A band is just as strong as the Number 2 band and seemsideal for the Evening Grosbeak. To satisfy vhe desire for local or regional studies, we swhmit for your considera- tion the following techniques. It should be emphasizedthat no system of marking ,birds is of value unless there is central control to avoid duplication. This is important if our efforts are to mean anything .at all. We at Arcadia Sanctuary, Northampton, Massachusetts,offer our servicesas a clearing house for the regis- tration of •bandsand color combinations. Here are some of the possibilities: 1. ,Coloredlacquers for marking bills. (These markings are good for at least one month.) 2. 'Brands,made like rubber stamps,to mark the white wing patchesof males. One letter, one number, or a simple design in a square or circle, the total to be about the size of a quarter. (See Bull. Mass• Aud. Soc., Vol. XXX.IV, No. 6, 1950, pp. 244-247.) 3. •Dyed.chicken feathers to be attached, upcurled, to the base of tail primaries. This is the technique used by Richard Lee Weaver and mentioned in his paper "The Purple Finch Invasion of Northeastern United States and the Maritime Provinces,"Bird-Banding, 11: 3, for July, 1940. We 'havet.wo new baits to offer. They are dried currants and hemp seed.Sun-