SPARROWS AND FINCHES 57 



friends. His whole bearing is refined and gentle. 

 The male in summer dress wears a black cap 

 and wings, otherwise he is bright yellow except 

 for a dash of white on the wings and tail. In 

 winter the yellow is replaced by olive-gray 

 similar to the all-the-year dress of the female. 

 The summer range extends from the Carolinas 

 to Labrador. They roam in winter from the 

 Northern States to the Gulf. They build a very 

 artistic nest of fine grasses, bits of bark, hair 

 and mosses, lined with thistledown, in bushes 

 and trees at some distance from the ground. 

 The tiny eggs are pale blue. They nest later 

 than most birds, often not until summer is well 

 advanced. 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Among the Finches 

 are several birds with bills so large that they 

 have been aptly named Grosbeaks, that is, great- 

 bills. Of these, the most common summer visitor 

 as well as the most brilliant in dress and song is 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, named from the 

 triangular patch of beautiful rose-red on his 

 breast. 



I find them in the shrubbery of the less fre- 

 quented parks of New York City in mid-May, 

 and when I reach Maine, in late June, they are 

 nesting in second-growth woods and occasion- 

 ally in the orchard. One can but feel that this 

 beautiful bird should be more common, and 

 perhaps he would be but for the pursuit of the 

 feather hunters who have found it profitable to 

 slay him because some ladies believed his poor 

 body made a pretty ornament for their hats. 

 Happily most of the States have passed laws 



