GROSBEAK, ROSE-BREASTED 



His back is disproportionately large and heavy, like a 

 huge nose, which slightly mars his good looks; but Nature 

 has made it up to him in a blush rose upon his breast, 

 and the most delicate of pink linings to the under side 

 of his wings. 



BURROUGHS. Wake Robin. 6 



The farmers in Pennsylvania, who, with more truth 

 than poetry, call this the potato-bug bird, are taking 

 active measures to protect the neighbor that is more useful 

 to their crops than all the insecticides known. 



NELTJE BLANCH AN. Bird Neighbors. 23 



Listen to the overflowing measure of its melody! How 

 comparatively few the notes, and yet how telling! No 

 single tone lost, no superficial intricacies. Sensuous, and 

 suffused with color, it is like a rich, pulpy, luscious, pink- 

 cheeked tropic fruit rendered into sound. 



GIBSON. Strolls by Starlight and Sunshine. 33 



There is an exquisite purity in the joyous carol of the 

 grosbeak; his song tells of all the gladness of a May morn- 

 ing; I have heard few happier strains of bird music. With 

 those who are deaf to its message of good cheer I can only 

 sympathize, pitying the man whose heart does not leap 

 with enthusiasm at the sight of rival males dashing through 

 the woods like winged meteors, leaving in their wake a 

 train of sparkling notes. 



CHAPMAN. Handbook of Birds. 21 



73 



