50 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 pabt i 



the grosbeaks went to roost, along with a motley crowd of small birds 

 of other species both resident and migratory, in a dense clmnp of tall 

 bamboos just outside the room that I occupied, where through the 

 window I could watch them as I sat at my work table. They darted 

 in among the compact foliage of the bamboos so quickly that I could 

 not count them with accuracy, but probably 10 or 12 slept there 

 every night. 



"Early in February I once saw, in the Caribbean lowlands of Hon- 

 duras, a male rose-breasted grosbeak who had practically completed 

 the prenuptial molt and was splendidly attired in black, white, and 

 rose. By the end of February males in nuptial dress are not rare, but 

 others have scarcely begun the molt. I have not often heard the song 

 of the rose-breasted grosbeak in Central America, but from March 29 to 

 April 5, 1945, a male who had not quite completed his prenuptial molt 

 sang repeatedly in the vicinity of my house in southern Costa Rica, 

 In the middle of the afternoon, when the Gray's thrushes were carol- 

 ing blithely on all sides, he would add his sweetly varied warble to the 

 chorus. During the first half of April the last rose-breasted grosbeaks 

 withdraw from Central America; my latest was seen in El General, 

 Costa Rica, on April 15, 1937. 



"Unfortunately, all the rose-breasted grosbeaks that come to tropi- 

 cal America do not return to the land of their birth, even if they remain 

 alive over the winter months. All too many are trapped and kept in 

 cages for their song and attractive plumage. Scarcely any other of the 

 migrants from further north is more popular as a cage bird. The 

 indigo bunting, the painted bunting, and a great variety of native 

 birds share the same unhappy fate. One has only to travel in Latin 

 America and witness how wild birds are held in captivity, often in a 

 cage that scarcely allows them space to turn around, and subjected to 

 all manner of abuses, such as remaining through the night beside an 

 unshaded electric light bulb, to appreciate fully how great an advance 

 the United States and Canada made when they prohibited the hold- 

 ing of native songbirds in captivity. It is distressing to anyone with 

 sympathetic feeling for wild creatures to see them held in thrall; but 

 there is something particularly exasperating in the sight of these migra- 

 tory birds, which are given legal protection in the country of their 

 birth, held captive in a foreign land. They are travelers whose pass- 

 ports have been dishonored, and there is no consulate to which they 

 can appeal for redress. 



Distribution 



Range. — Central Canada (east of the Rocky Mountains) to Colombia 

 and Venezuela. 



