)10 



IIOSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



GUIRACA CAERULEA. 

 Blue Grosbeak. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sp Cii Size, medium. Form, slender. Color Male. Brilliant blue, throughout, darkest on the 

 back. Wings, black, crossed by two reddish yellow bands. Tail, black. Iris, feet, bill, brown, the latter 

 lighter on lower mandible. Adult, female, yellowish brown, above, 

 with sometimes a trace of blue, lighter below especially on throat 

 and abdomen. Wings, browner than in the male, but banded the 

 same. Tail, also brown. Young male, similar to the female at first 

 but gradually assumes the blue dress, ai»iioai-ing in all gradations 

 of mottlings. with sometimes the blue predominating and sometimes 

 the brown. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The only species with which this is to be confused is the 

 Indigo Bird, but this is much smaller, and never has any band on 

 the wings. Occurs in the United States cast of the Rocky 

 Mountains, north to Central Pennsylvania. 



J 



B&i 



Fig. Til. Head of adult male. 

 Blue Grosbeak. 



DIMENSIONS. 



LemHh, C.'iO to 7.2.J ; stretch, 10.,"yO to 11.50; wing, 3.30 to O.fiO ; tail, 2.7.3 to 3.00; bill, ..58 to .65, 



tarsus, .85 to .IJ5. 



HABITS. 



I lia,ve uexer cliaiiccd to i^ee a specimen of this fine Grosbeak living, and although its 

 rano'e is soniewliat extended it aiipears to be somewhat local in distribution. It has lieen 

 taken as a straugler as far north as Maine, and Mr. Gordon Phnnmer oljfained a .specimen 

 near his residence in Brookline, Mass., in the summer of 1880. 



GENUS XXI. IIAl^JA. THE SONG GROSBEAKS. 



Gkn. Ch. Bill, very large and heavy, proportionately more so than in the last genus. Tail, shorter 

 than winf and slightly rounded only. Folded wing, not reaching to the centre of tail. Sexes, dissimilar. 

 We have two fine species within our limits. 



HABIA LUDOVICIANA. 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sp. Ch. Size, large. Form, robust. Color. Adult male. Head and neck all around and most of 

 the upper parts, black. Rump and upper tail coverts, tips of middle and greater wing coverts, spots on 

 tertiaries, patch on inner webs of outer tail feathers, and beneath, white. Triangular patch on breast, some- 

 times extending from middle of body to throat, under wing coverts and axillaries, rosy red. 



Adult female. Brown above, streaked with yellowish buff. Central and supercilliary stripe on head, 

 white. Wing markings as in the male. White beneath, tinged with buff, narrowly streaked on sides and 

 flanks and more broadly on sides of breast and neck with brown, under wing coverts and axillaries, salmon 

 yellow. Young female, more heavily streaked below, and these markings extend across the breast, while the 



