150 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



high key, then repeated in a slightly lower key, growing 

 feebler as the song ends. It resembles the syllables sicee- 

 siaee-sivee, sicee-sivee (slightly lower), siceet-sweet-stveet, 

 swee-sivee (slightly lower), swee, sivee, stvee. The song is 

 heard constantly through July and into August. 



The male can be confused only with the Bluebird, and 

 then only if the under parts are not seen ; no other Xew 

 England bird is blue all over. The female may be known 

 by her unstreaked brown back, her brownish under parts, 

 and her habit of twitching the tail sideways as she appears 

 and disappears in the roadside thickets. 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Zamelodia ludoviciana 



8.12 



Ad. $ . — Head, throat, upper back, wings, and tail black ; 

 wings and tail much spotted with white ; lower back white ; 

 breast rose-red, a stripe of this color often extending down the 

 white belly, and a salmon tinge under the wings ; bill large, 

 ivhite when seen from below. Ad. 9- — The black of the male 

 replaced by brown ; back and breast streaked ; bar across the 

 wing and line over eye, while ; line through crown white, streaked 

 with brown; bill large, light colored. Ad. $ in late sununer and 

 fall. — Head brown; line above eye whitish ; back brown ; rump 

 whitish; breast pink, veiled with buff ; wings and t^il Jet-black and 

 white. Im. $ . — Similar to ad. $ in late summer, but pink not 

 so extensive ; wings and tail brown. 



Nest, of twigs, loosely constructed, from five to twenty-five 

 feet up in bush or tree. Eggs, pale blue, with numerous brown 

 markings. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a summer resident through- 

 out Xew York and New England, common in some regions, 

 but rare in others, for instance on Long Island. It is said 

 not to occur on Cape Cod, and in the upland of northern 

 New England, though found even high up on the moun- 

 tains, it is nowhere common. It arrives in May, and 

 remains into September. Of late years it has shown a 

 preference for villages, and even for city streets, if well- 



