FINCHES. 241 



6. The nest, a rather frail structure, is composed of straws, 

 leaves, or twigs, and is sometimes lined with hairs. It is often 

 built in the shrubbery or trees of cultivated estates, but is 

 also to be found in barberry bushes in pasture-land, or oaks, 

 etc., in the woods, especially damp woods. An instance is 

 known of its being found in a pine, fifty feet from the ground, 

 though usually not placed very high. The eggs, which are 

 here laid generally in the first week of June, are three or 

 four, and average 1.00 X .75 of an inch. They are marked 

 quite thickly but coarsely, usually with rather dull reddish or 

 purplish umber. Their ground-color varies from greenish 

 blue to dull olive green. They strongly resemble several 

 other eggs. (See the Key.) 



c. The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak possesses, combined 

 in such a degree as few other birds do, gay beauty of plumage, 

 and fine powers of song, though the female is plain, incon- 

 spicuous, and for the most part silent. He, therefore, absents 

 himself from the immediate neighborhood of his nest, except 

 when obliged to approach it, or when relieving his mate from 

 the fatigue of incubation, as he occasionally does. He is rare 

 to the northward of Massachusetts,* where he is common in 

 many places, though still locally distributed. He reaches 

 Boston in the second week of May, and returns to the South 

 in September, not being sufficiently hardy to withstand the 

 cold accompanying a hard frost. He frequents not only 

 lightly timbered or swampy woods, but orchards, groves, and 

 shrubbery on cultivated estates. He feeds chiefly upon 

 berries and seeds, and obtains the latter from various trees, 

 such as the birches and alders. He also eats buds, often 

 committing depredations on our fruit trees ; and he must be 

 considered as injurious to agriculture. He frequently plucks 

 blossoms, and, dexterously cutting off the petals, etc., lets 

 them fall, while he retains the ovary which contains the seeds.f 



* The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is crops of fruit. On the contrary, both 



now known to be very common at are probably benefited by the process, 



many localities in northern New Eng- which is, in effect, a sort of fruit prun- 



land. W. B. ing-, seldom if ever more severe than. 



t As in the case of the Purple Finch, that practiced by thrifty horticultur- 



there are no good reasons for assuming ists. W. B. 

 that this injures the trees or even their 



