KOSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK 39 



W. E. Shore writes me of a nest about 5 feet up in a hemlock 

 sapUng on the edge of an overgrown pasture, north of Toronto. 



Nests have also been recorded in a pear tree, box elder, choke- 

 cherry, ironwood, and willow; probably almost any small tree or 

 shrub would be suitable for a nesting site if sufficiently sheltered. 



As to the selection of the nest site, T. S. Roberts (1932) observed a 

 male rose-breasted grosbeak behaving in an unusual manner in the 

 fork of a small elm tree. "A moment's watching showed that he was 

 plainly intent upon finding a suitable restmg place for the nest. 

 Settling himself into the crotch he turned slowly around and around 

 several times, seemingly trying its fitness for the object in view. 

 Presently he flew to a neighboring tree, whence shortly the female 

 appeared and went through similar movements." On visiting the 

 spot a few days later, he found a completed nest in that exact spot, 

 with the female sitting on it. 



William Brewster (1936) gives the following account of the nest- 

 building: 



About six o'clock this morning I found a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 

 beginning their nest in the fork of a gray birch at the east end of Ball's Hill. They 

 flitted about together, making almost incessantly a soft, low, exquisitely tender 

 calling to one another. The female kept trying to break off dead twigs from 

 birches. When, after many futile attempts, she got one, she flew with it to the 

 fork. The male regularly preceded her and settling down in the fork received 

 from her the twig and set it in place among the few others (less than half a dozen) 

 which had been brought when my observations began. The female invariably 

 gave up the twig when the male reached his bill towards her for it. 



The above two accounts show that the male, at least sometimes, 

 takes a leading part in the nest building, but they do not prove that 

 he always does so. However, as he is known to incubate the eggs and 

 feed the young, he may take a more active interest in the nest than we 

 realize. 



The nest of this grosbeak is not a work of art, nor is it very sub- 

 stantial. Rev. J. H. Langille (1884) has described it very well as 

 follows: "It is composed outside of small sticks, fine t^vigs, or coarse 

 strawy material, ornamented with a few skeleton-leaves, and is lined 

 with very fine twigs of some evergreen tree (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." 



H. Roy Ivor writes Taber that, in the case of a pair nesting under 

 observation in semicaptivity, "the male does not seem to feed the fe- 

 male except just after mating or when she has her nest just finished," 

 He also states that, in semicaptivity, two nestings take place during the 

 season. Wild birds have only one brood yearly (Forbush, 1929). 



