BLUE GROSBEAK. 371 



— almost within the shadow of Memorial Hall. The nest was 

 laid upon a branch that hung over the sidewalk of Oxford Street, 

 not more than ten or twelve feet from the ground, the tree being 

 in the garden adjoining the residence of Mr. Francis Foster. 



BLUE GROSBEAK. 



GUIRACA CiERULEA. 



Char. Male : general plumage rich blue, darker on the back ; feath- 

 ers around base of bill, wings, and tail black ; two bright rufous bands 

 on the wings. Female : smaller ; above, yellowish brown ; below, dark 

 buff. Length 6}?. to 7 inches. 



J^est. On a low branch of a tree or bush, situated along the margin of 

 a wood, or in an open pasture or orchard, or by a roadside, — sometimes 

 in an alder swamp or blackberry thicket ; composed of leaves, weed- 

 stems, and grass, lined with horse-hair, roots, or fine grass ; occasionally 

 pieces of snake skin or newspaper are worked into the exterior. 



^gg^- 3-4; light blue; 0.85 X 0.65. 



This shy and almost solitary species chiefly inhabits the 

 warmer parts of America from Brazil to Virginia ; stragglers 

 occasionally also visit the lower parts of Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey, and Bullock observed them on the tableland of 

 Mexico. According to Wilson, it is nearly a silent bird, seldom 

 singing in the cage, its usual note of alarm being merely a 

 loud chuck ; though at times its musical capacity under more 

 favorable circumstances is suggested by a few low and sweet- 

 toned notes. It may be fed on Indian corn, hemp-seed, 

 millet, and the kernels of several kinds of berries. 



According to Audubon, these birds arrive in Louisiana 

 about the middle of March. They proceed through Alabama, 

 Georgia, and the Carolinas, in all which districts they breed ; 

 and although rarely seen in the Western States, Mr. Townsend 

 and myself met with them in May on the borders of the 

 Platte, near Scott's Bluffs, where they were already mated and 

 breeding. They are sometimes met with along the Atlantic 

 coast as far as New Jersey, and Audubon found a nest in that 

 State within a few miles of Philadelphia. Their food consists 



