﻿The Rose-breasted Grosbeak 



By WILLIAM DUTCHER 



President of the National Association of Audubon Societies 



Rational Association of Audubon Societies 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 20 



After a long period of winter weather, with its bare and brown or snow - 

 covered fields, its frozen streams, and its leafless trees, how the lover of 

 out-of-doors watches for the first indication of the coming of spring! The 

 vitality that has been dormant, but is commencing to awaken with the 

 lengthening of the days, and the increasing power of the sun is watched 

 with daily growing interest. Every new shade of green that the grassy car- 

 pet of the earth assumes is a delight, the first dandelion blossom that shows 

 itself on the lawn is a thing of beauty, the opening of the arbutus and the 

 modest violet increases our joy, the arrival of the advance guard of winged 

 hosts that we know will soon follow, thrills us with pleasure and a desire for 

 the culmination, when every tree in orchard or forest is bursting forth with 

 blossom and leaf and every place is vocal with music. Then it is, some 

 morning early in May, we are greeted with a glory of song and the flash- 

 ing beauty of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. During the winter months it 

 has lived in the tropical regions of the West Indies, Mexico, Central America 

 and northern South America; but with spring comes the longing for home, 

 and it journeys, by night, through the trackless sky to its birthplace. This 

 is anywhere in eastern United States and the more southern British provin- 

 ces, from the Atlantic coast to eastern Kansas and Manitoba. During its 

 semi-annual migrations it passes through the gulf states. One of the most 

 wonderful and interesting subjects in Nature is migration. The cause 

 of the migration of birds is still a puzzle to scientists, and, although 

 theories have been advanced from time to time by learned students, 

 yet none have been universally accepted. The changing seasons, from heat 

 to cold, has been suggested as a cause; the lack of food as another. The 

 latter cause might well explain the necessity for the southward movement 

 of birds in the autumn, but it hardly seems a reason for the return of the 

 birds in the spring from tropical countries where Nature is prolific with 

 plant and insect -life. The most attractive theory is that birds return to 

 their breeding-places from a passionate fondness for home, which even the 

 dangers and fatigue of a long journey cannot overcome. Setting aside the 

 reasons for migration, let us consider for a moment migration itself, and 

 the more we think of it the more wonderful it seems. Take, for instance, 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, that has spent the winter in Colombia. How 



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