The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak 



3G5 



FEEDING. 



The bulk of the determined insect food was largely divided 

 into two groups, larva, and large larvae. The terms are self- 

 explanatory. Among the latter were several resembling 

 tomato worms and, once or twice, we thought we could 

 recognize partly grown cecropia larvte. Among the former 

 we occasionally recognized an army worm when it had to be 

 withdrawn from the nestling mouth, but for the most part 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 

 Fig. IV. — -J" Approaching with Food. 



they were either too badly macerated or too well concealed 

 in the beak of the parent to be identified. Geometrid larvae 

 were dangling from_ the twigs in abundance and probably 

 many entered simply as larvae belonged here. They were 

 entered as measuring worms only when the parents were 

 actually observed to secure them. Most birds, when they 

 bring worms or larvae, carry them crosswise in the tip of the 

 beak and consequently almost the entire length is visible to 

 the observer, but the present species carried them far back 

 in the beak in such a manner as to render only the ends 

 visible. 



