ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK 315 



described, I think it must be a grosbeak.' At first I 

 thought I saw a chewiuk, as it sat withiu a rod side- 

 ways to me, and I was going to call Sophia to look at 

 it, but then it turned its breast full toward me and I 

 saw the blood-red breast, a large triangular painted 

 spot occupying the greater part of the breast. It was 

 in the cool, shaded underwood by the old path just 

 under the Cliff. It is a memorable event to meet with 

 so rare a bird. Birds answer to flowers, both in their 

 abundance and their rareness. The meeting with a 

 rare and beautiful bird like this is like meeting: with 

 some rare and beautiful flower, which you may never 

 find again, perchance, like the great purple fringed 

 orchis, at least. How much it enhances the wildness 

 and the richness of the forest to see in it some beautiful 

 bird which you never detected before ! 



May 24, 1855. Hear a rose-breasted grosbeak. At 

 first thought it a tanager, but soon I perceived its more 

 clear and instrumental — should say whistle, if one 

 could whistle like a flute; a noble singer, reminding 

 me also of a robin ; clear, loud and flute-like ; on the 

 oaks, hillside south of Great Fields. Black all above 

 except white on wing, with a triangular red mark on 

 breast but, as I saw, all white beneath this. Female 

 quite different, yellowish olivaceous above, more like a 

 muscicapa. Song not so sweet as clear and strong. Saw 

 it fly off and catch an insect like a flycatcher. 



1 Probably a rose-breasted grosbeak. [Though the rose-breasted 

 grosbeak was formerly much less common about houses than it is now, 

 being chiefly confined to the woods, it is doubtful if it was quite so rare 

 in Concord as Thoreau thought at the time.] 



