68 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 9. 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED 

 TO THE STUDY OF BIRDS, TIIEIK NESTS AND EGGS. 



JOfi. JU. WAItE, Kilitor, 



S. L. WILLARD, Assistant, 



With the CO operation of ablf Ornithological 

 Writers and Collectors. 



SUBSCKIPTION — $1.00 pe)' annum. Foreign sub 

 scription $ 1 . 35 — including postage. Speci- 

 men Copies Tea (JenU. 



aos, jfi. w.4nE, 



Nor%vlcb, ronii. 



Entered at Norwich P. 0. as Second Class matter. 



lEDITOItlJLL. 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



This bird was brought to us with a mate, 

 both naked, the last of July, 1878. He was 

 named Jack, after a pet Blue Jay that was a 

 comical genius, and Jack certainly has not 

 been a whit behind his namesake. VVe often 

 wish we had kept a careful record of his pro- 

 gress and doings, and we now wish we were 

 able to describe Jack's life for the benefit 

 of our readers, but as that is not our forte we 

 will simply give a synopsis of Jack's growth 

 and doings. From an error in feeding, the 

 younger of the two soon died, when bread 

 and milk was substituted, on which Jack did 

 well. A young lady was spending a few 

 weeks at my house and she devoted almost 

 her entire time in raising and caring for 

 Jack. He was well fed and often taken out 

 on the lawn and allowed to pick and ramble 

 in the grass. Several times he got into the 

 fountain to bathe, but was helped out and 

 saved from drowning. He soon got so that 

 he would recognize no one but the lady 

 who cared so well for him; and when on the 

 floor, and siill naked, he would sing a little 

 complete song for her at any time when 

 asked to do so. This lady remained with 

 Jack about five weeks, when she left him 

 with much regret. She returned again the 

 following January when the bird immediate- 

 ly recognized her. Once her visits were a 



year apart but even then he did not forget 

 her; and when the lady visited my house 

 the present summer, in the city of Norwich, 

 Jack bounded across his cage and with de- 

 light welcomed her back again. This is 

 the more strange as he never made the ac- 

 quaintance of but two persons. He cares 

 nothing for the writer although he has been 

 with him daily from his birth, and fed him 

 fruit, &c. It is often wondered how birds 

 migrate and return again in the spring, but 

 when this bird's memory is taken into con- 

 sideration the wonder is not so great. 



He got his first feathers during the months 

 of August and September, 1878. They were 

 those of the female except the breast, and the 

 first feathers there were rose colored, inter- 

 mixed with brown feathers as in the female. 

 His first wing and tail feathers were brittle 

 and all broke out during the winter. 



He made a complete shedding during 

 February and March following 1879, when 

 his tail and wing feathers again all broke out 

 and he commenced his full song in April, 

 and stopped as soon as the breeding season 

 was over and was perfectly silent lintil the 

 following spring. He did not moult this 

 fall, 1879, until September and his feathers 

 remained unbroken. He had no sooner got 

 through this moult than his spring moult 

 commenced, and by February 5 th, i88r, he 

 commenced his song. 



When first caged he had an Indigo bird 

 for a mate, and he has never forgot his song 

 and often sings it distinct from his own. 

 He also sings the entire notes of a Canary 

 which I used to own. The present summer 

 a pair of Wrens took up their quarters for a 

 week or two near his cage. He was de- 

 lighted with their company and tried to im- 

 itate their notes. His first spring notes are 

 not full, but as the breeding season arrives 

 his notes are full and remarkably sweet. 

 He will then sing for hours without an in- 

 termission. Those who have only heard 

 this bird in its wild state can form no idea 

 of the power of its song when well cared for 

 in confinement. No Mocking-bird ever cre- 

 ated the amount of interest this bird has 



