ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



511 



bufF tinting; is consiilerably deeper. Young male, similar, but with the under wing lining rosy as in the 

 adult male. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Distinguished at once in both se.xes by the colored wing lining and thick bill. Occurs during the 

 breeding season throughout middle Eastern North America, from the Middle States north to Labrador, west 

 to the Saskatchewan and to the Red River Vallev and Missouri Plains. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length. 7.75 to S..jO; stretch, VJ.iK) to lo.OO; wing. ci.OO to 4.2.") ; tail, o.ld to 3.2.5; bill, .(Jo to .68; 

 tarsus, .75 to .80. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed in trees or bushe?, composed of slender twigs rather loosely arranged, lined with fine 

 rootlets and grass. Egcs, three or four in number, oval in form, bluish green in color, spotted and blotched 

 with brown and lilac. Dimensions, from ,(kS by ,92 to .75 by LOI). 



HABITS. 



The Rose-breasted Cirosbeal^s make their a])])earauce on the second or third week 

 in May, depending somewhat upon the season. They frequent the open woodhuids upon 

 their first arrival, but soon scatter about the orcliards 

 and gardens. They are, liowever, fond of the vicinity of 



streams if these water courses are bordered with bushes. . ^ -:=-,--. 



This liabit of frequeuting gardens and orchards has been 

 quite recently ac(|uired by this fine Grosbeak. Possibly 

 the fact that their numbers are increasing mn\- have 

 something to do M-ith this change of hal^it. In Audu- 

 bon's time, as is well known, this species was quite rare, 

 but it has gradually' grown more and more abundant, 

 until at the jirescnt time it has become one of our most 

 common species. 



The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks begin to build their 

 nests early in June. The site chosen as a nesting place 

 is frequently a clump of bushes by the side of a f ivorite 

 stream, or the fragile-looking stick-built structure is often 

 constructed on the overhanging liml) of a tree directly 



over the water. These Grosbeaks are never sh\- but when the female is .scttiim; she 

 appears to lose nearly all fear of man. I have frequently seen them so tame that they 

 would almost allow me to ])lace my hand on them. I once tipped a nest on which a 

 female was sitting completely upside down in my efforts to reach it, as it hung on the 

 extremity of a long, swinging bough, and upon righting it again, found the bird still 

 clinoino- to it with tlie four unbroken ejisis beneath her. 



The song of the Rose-breast is among the finest of our l)ird cantatas, ringing out loud, 

 €lear and melodiously in the still mornings of June. Some of the notes remind one of 

 those of the Robin, es]iecially those given in the first part of the song; others whidi 



Fig. 52. Head of Adult female. 

 Rose- breasted Grosbeak, 



