ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 527 



are of a dark olive-brown, blending and becoming paler as they ap- 

 proach the other tints. The back, rump, sides, and below, with the 

 under wing and tail-coverts yellow. Legs and feet flesh-color. — 

 The sexes nearly alike. 



ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



{Fringilla ludoviciana, Bonap. Loxia rosea (ludoviciana), Wilson, 

 ii. p. 135. pi. 17. fig. 2. [male.] and Bonap. Am. Orn. ii. p. 14. 

 fig. 2. [female.] Phil. Museum, No. 5806, 5807.) 



Sp. Charact. — Black ; breast and inferior wing-coverts rosaceous j 

 belly, band on the wing, base of the primaries, and 3 outer tail- 

 feathers partly white ; bill whitish. — Female and young, varied 

 with pale flaxen, dark-olive, and whitish; no rose-color, and less 

 white on the wings. 



The history of this splendid songster is very obscure, 

 the species being rare and accidental in the Atlantic 

 States. The remote Northw^estern Territories of the 

 Union, Canada, and the cool regions towards the Rocky 

 Mountains, appear to be the general residence of the 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Mr. Say met with it in the 

 spring, on the banks of the lower part of the Missouri 

 and at Pembino on the 5th of Auo-ust in the 49th deo-ree 

 of latitude. The enterprising Dr. Richardson, who ac- 

 companied Captain Franklin into the dreary northern re- 

 gions of Canada, also observed it in the latitude of 53°. 

 It has likewise been seen in Mexico. These are, no 

 doubt, its proper natal regions, and the course of its mi- 

 grations, from which it only ventures accidentally in se- 

 vere winters, and is then transiently seen in pairs east of 

 the Atlantic mountains, which constitute the general 

 boundary of its range. They are thus seen occasionally in 

 the vicinity of Philadelphia, in the state of New York, par- 

 ticularly along the borders of Lake Ontario, and in Con- 

 necticut, but rarely if ever in this part of New England. 

 Pennant speaks of its arrival in the state of New York in 



