BIRDS OF 



Gknus HABIA Reichenbach. 



228. HABIA LUDOVICIANA (Linn.). 5D5. 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



Adult male, with head and neck all round and most of the upper parts 

 black, th-i rump, uppar tail-coverts and under parts white, the breast and 

 under wing-coverts exquisite carmine or rose-red ; wings and tail black, 

 variegated with white ; bill pale ; feet dark. Female, above streaked with 

 blackish and olive or flaxen-brown with median white coronal and supercili- 

 ary line ; below white, more or less tinged with fulvous and streaked with 

 dusky ; under wing-coverts saffron-yellow ; upper coverts and inner quills 

 with a white spot at end ; bill brown. Young males at first resemble the 

 female. Length, 7J-8J; wing, about 4; tail, about 3J. 



H.\B. Eastern United States and Southern Canada, west to the eastern 

 border of the Plains, south in winter to Cuba, Central America and Northern 

 South America. 



Nest, in a low tree ; composed of twigs, vegetable fibre and grass, rather 

 loosely put together. 



Eggs, 3 to 4 ; greenish-white, thickly spotted with reddish-brown. 



This robust and gaily attired songston- arrives from the south 

 about the loth of May, and soon its rich, rolhng song is heard 

 in the trees and thickets where it spends the summer.- It breeds 

 regularly along the southern border of Ontario, and has also 

 been found in Labrador and in the Red River Valley. Its 

 favorite haunts are along the wooded banks of streams, where 

 even at noonday, when most other birds are silent, the male in 

 the shade of the luxuriant foliage cheers his mate during the 

 tedious hours of incubation with the song she loves to hear. 

 Its food consists of seeds, buds and berries; but it also takes a 

 variety of insects, and is one of the few birds which visit the 

 potato patch and snap up the potato bugs. On this account 

 alone it is entitled to our protection ; but it is also one of the 

 most attractive birds which visit the shrubbery, and would be 

 most welcome if it could be taught to consider itself protected 

 and come nearer to our dwellings. 



Before retiring in the fall the males lose the greater portion 

 of their black, but retain the carmine on the breast and under 

 wing-coverts. 



230 



