328 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



in little companies of 5 to 15 birds among the deciduous trees of our lawns, 

 parks and the outskirts of towns. Sometimes a few females arrive with 

 the first little flocks of male birds, but usually they succeed by several 

 days their more brilliantly colored brethren. In the fall it disappears 

 between September 22 and October 10. 



Haunts and habits. The haunts of the Rose-breasted grosbeak are 

 the rich woodlands with a fair stand of undergrowth, and swamps and 

 stream courses well grown with alder, swamp maple and birches. In my 

 experience also, it prefers a mixed woodland where there is a consider- 

 able admixture of hemlock, pine or spruce. I have found it nesting about 

 the Ausable lakes, the lower slopes of Mount Marcy and the shores of 

 Elk lake in the Adirondacks, and in western New York it prefers such 

 locations as the Potter swamp, Bergen swamp, Conewango swamp and 

 the beech, maple and hemlock forests of Allegany, Chautauqua, Erie and 

 Cattaraugus counties. It also inhabits pure forests of white and red oak 

 on upland slopes, but the damper forest is certainly preferred. The nest 

 is usually placed in an alder, maple, beech or hemlock sapling or the limbs 

 of a low tree at a height of from 8 to 20 feet from the ground. It resembles 

 considerably the nest of the Scarlet tanager, but is slightly larger, usually 

 constructed of small twigs, especially those from the beech and hemlock, 

 lined with finer materials of the same kind and a few rootlets. The eggs 

 are 4 or 5 in number, greenish blue in ground color, rather profusely spotted 

 and blotched with olive-brown and reddish brown markings. They average 

 .90 by .70 inches in size. 



The call note of the Grosbeak is a loud, sharp, questioning " peek, 

 peek." The song is a rich, rolling warble which has been many times 

 compared to the quality of the Robin's note, but to me seems more melo- 

 dious, approaching the quality of the Purple finch's song but a larger, 

 fuller sound. It is frequently delivered when the bird is on the wing, 

 fluttering through the air after the manner of the Goldfinch during his 

 ecstatic delivery. 



The food of this Grosbeak consists to a considerable extent of green 



