THE BIRDS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 



315 



Flicker imitating it indeed so perfectly as to almost induce an erroneous note-book 

 -entry. 



GENUS HABIA REICHENBACH. 



126. Habia ludoviciana (LINN.). 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



An abundant summer resident. Its spring arrival generally occurs during the 

 first week of May. April 28 (1891) being the earliest record. It remains until Sep- 

 tember, having been latest noted on the twenty-fourth of this month. It is found in 

 suitable locations both on the uplands and on the bottoms, but is apparently most 

 numerously represented on and near the latter. 



The species was unusually abundant during the breeding season of 1890. In the 

 months of May and June of that year there were found by the writer, without special 

 search, within four miles of Wooster, twenty-two occupied nests ; nearly three times 

 the number recorded for any other year. Certain extensive thickets lying for some 

 distance along both sides of the track of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago R. 

 R., and adjacent to large swamps, seemed to have a special attraction for the birds, 

 since here within a radius of fifty yards were found during that season eleven nests. 

 The next year the same thicket yielded on careful search only three or four nests. 



Eggs of this species have been noted from May 17 to July 10 (1892), but the lat- 

 ter date must be considered somewhat exceptional, as a large majority of the nests 

 discovered have been between the twenty-fifth of May and the twelfth of June. The 

 number of eggs is rather more commonly three than four, while five have been but 

 once observed. 



The nest is placed usually not over twelve, yet sometimes twenty feet from the 

 ground ; and while no particular preference appears to be shown, the thorn 

 {Cratcegus} is as frequently as any other bush chosen as its site. The nest is seldom found 

 in" an orchard, but one discovered June 12, 1892, was so situated. It is often located 

 in a comparatively exposed position, with apparently no attempt at concealment; and 

 is, moreover, occasionally so loosely constructed that the eggs may be counted from 

 below. On June 5, 1892, a set of eggs was taken from the same bush an elder (Sam- 

 bucus Catuidotsis) from which also the year previous eggs had been collected, possi- 

 bly from the same pair of birds. 



A series of ten nests exhibits the following measurements : 



