192 Sketches of Some Common Bir(h. 



Saskatchewan; winters in Cuba, eastern Mexico, Central 

 America, and northern South America, as far as Ecuador." 



In the latitude of 39"^ 20', the rose-breasted grosbeak 

 appears on its northward migration in the laist week of 

 April, having arrived on the 25th in 1891, and on the 

 28Lh in 1892. It reaches eastern localities in the first 

 week of May. Kobert Ridgway says that the species is 

 transient in the southern portion of Illinois, passing rather 

 hurriedly through in spring and fall ; but in the northern 

 portions (perhaps more than the northern half), it is a 

 summer resident. 



My knowledge of this species began on May 10, 1882, 

 when I saw several specimens in a small elm in the edge 

 of a wood. Since then I have seen and heard them both in 

 towji and in the woods every season through the entire 

 summer. For the first week after their arrival the rich 

 melody of one or two individuals will make musical a par- 

 ticular neighborhood. They do not range aimlessly over a 

 given area, but a pair or several birds will choose quarters 

 in a certain row or grove of trees, and will seldom go abroad 

 during their stay in the locality. When one perceives 

 itself to be watched while it is alternately singing and 

 gleaning morsels from the buds, it gently varies its sweet, 

 full notes to a softer, even more melodious warble, contin- 

 uing its occupation, for it will not readily take flight to 

 escape observation. Its song is a very loud, modulated, 

 intensified counterpart of the song of the warbling vireo, 

 richer, clearer, longer, and in every way superior. In 

 richness and fulness of tone it is rivalled by the Baltimore 

 oriole, but the fewer notes of the latter render its song 

 inferior to the ringing lyrics of the rose-breasted grosbeak. 

 Though the song of the grosbeak seems comparatively 

 long, it occupies only from four to six seconds, and the 

 bird readily executes from seven to eight songs per 

 minute. 



The grosbeak is especially voluble after sunrise, begin- 

 ning about an hour after, and continuing for about two 

 hours, during which time it industriously gathers supplies 

 for the morning refreshment of its spouse or family. 

 Averaging seven songs a minute, it thus utters four hun- 

 dred and twenty songs per hour, or eight hundred and 



