FAMILY Fringillids. 
his brilliant feathers. Mr. F. E. L. Beal writes: *‘ On 
account of this attractive plumage the birds are highly 
prized for ladies’ hats, and consequently have been shot 
in season and out, till the wonder is not that there are so 
few, but that any remain atall.” Head, throat, and up- 
per parts jet black; breast marked with a triangle (point 
down) of rose-red, or deep rose madder, which color ex- 
tends beneath the wings over the under coverts, and 
rarely down the centre of the white underparts; lower 
back white tipped with black; primaries white at the base; 
the outer feathers of the tail tipped with white on the 
inner webs. Female marked like a Sparrow; upper 
parts gray-brown, pale ochre, and brownish gray; a buff 
line on the crown, and a dull white one over each eye; 
wings and tail darker gray-brown; light duil orange un- 
der the wings replaces the rose color of the male; upper 
wing coverts tipped with white; under parts light buff 
streaked with gray-brown. Nest loosely woven of root- 
lets, twigs, and plant fibres; lodged in thick under- 
growth, or in trees from five to twenty feet from the 
ground. Egg pale greenish blue with a variety of brown 
narkings. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are supposed to be 
common throughout eastern North America as far north 
as Maine; they winter in Central and South America. 
These birds, however, are unevenly distributed. I have 
found them far more frequently in the vicinities of 
Boston, Cambridge, Mass., and Morristown, N. J., than 
in Campton, N. H. Mr. Scott also says the birds ‘‘ are 
commonly found in some of our thickly built suburban 
towns, where, undisturbed by the vicinity of man, they 
seem as much at home as in the wilder woodlands. 
Such conditions I have observed in the town of Cam- 
bridge, Mass., where this is an almost abundant garden 
bird; and in South Orange, N. J., and vicinity, much 
the same is the case.” The food of the bird is largely 
composed of beetles and a variety of injurious insects. 
He has a great liking for the potato beetle. 
The song of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak has been gen- 
erally described as similar to that of the Robin, but this 
similarity, from a musical point of view, is altogether to- 
superficial to deserve serious attention. I most emphati- — 
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