ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 31 
dish or yellowish white marked with spots of brown. Above olivaceous 
brown with darker markings. Under wing coverts, saffron yellow. 
Central band on the head, and on each side of darkish brown ; above 
the eye, a white one. A brown stripe from the bill to the eye and be- 
yond ; under this a stripe of whitish. Quills and tail, brown. — Bill 
brown above, lighter beneath. __Ivis and feet as in the male. | Accord- 
ing to Audubon, the young male after the first moult, resembles the fe- 
male, excepting that it then begins to show the rosy tints both on the 
breast and under wing coverts. In the first plumage the young re- 
semble the female. 
My friend, Mr. Edgar A. Mearns, of Highland Falls, N. Y., has very 
kindly furnished me with the following notes relating to the habits of 
this beautiful bird: 
MEARNS ON THE RosE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 
Notes on the Habits of the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. (Zamelodia 
Ludovictana). 
In the Hudson Valley, this handsome Grosbeak is a summer resi- 
dent, and breeds plentifully in certain districts. It comes from the 
South early in May, and continues with us until the end of September. 
On its first arrival, it is usually seen in the woodlands, haunting the 
lower branches of the trees, where its bright colors at once attract at- 
tention. During the past spring (1880), the pioneer Grosbeak was a 
beautiful male seen perched in a tree-top on Cro’-Nest Mountain, near 
West Point, on the 4th of May. Soon after its arrival, the Rose- 
Breasted Grosbeak appears about our houses, and, possibly does some 
damage to the fruit crops, by eating the blossoms in the orchards ; it is 
