266 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



with each other in song, and gamboling in the most sportive 

 manner. A few days later, when the leaves unfolding in 

 their soft down have fully expanded, the coy female appears. 

 Her plain light colors are strongly in contrast with the 

 ebony, chalk-white and deep rose of her consort; and as 

 she is almost voiceless, a glimpse of her amidst the thick 

 foliage is rather rare. 



The nest of this species, built late in May, is a frail and 

 loosely-woven affair, placed in the top of a bush or on the 

 lower horizontal limb of a tree. It is composed outside of 

 small sticks, fine twigs, or coarse strawy material, orna- 

 mented with a few skeleton-leaves, and is lined with very 

 fine twigs of some evergreen (here, of the hemlock), or 

 with fine rootlets, sometimes being finished with horse-hair, 

 and the whole structure so loosely put together that one 

 can see through it from beneath. The eggs, four or five, 

 l.OOX-'J'o, are light green, specked and spotted with brown 

 and lilac, the markings often thickened or wreathed around 

 the large, sometimes around the small, end. In every way 

 the nest and eggs bear a strong resemblance to those of 

 the Scarlet Tanager, the nests of both these brilliant species 

 being a sort of rude log-cabin affair, compared with the 

 elegant nest-homes of many of our feathered tribes. 



I have more frequently found the male than the female 

 on the nest. When disturbed they both keep very near, 

 moving about the branches with much excitement, as they 

 emit a sharp, creaking kimp., ki?np, quite unlike the note of 

 any other bird of my acquaintance. Though abundant 

 here in their migrations, and breeding very commonly, it 

 often requires a great deal of careful watching to get a 

 glimpse of even the male. So shy and retiring is he at nearly 

 all times as to be much more frequently heard than seen. 

 He has been in favor as a cage-bird, and is said by some 



