ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 167 



the tallest trees of the forest, as if to rest a while. While on wino- it 

 utters a clear note, but when perched it remains silent, in an upright and 

 rather stiff attitude. It is then easily approached. I have followed it in 

 its migrations into Pennsylvania, New York, and other Eastern States, 

 through the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as far 

 as Newfoundland, where many breed, but I saw none in Labrador. It is 

 never seen in the maritime parts of Georgia, or those of the Carolinas, 

 but some have been procured in the mountainous portions of those States. 

 I have found them rather plentiful in the early part of May, along the 

 steep banks of the Schuylkil River, twenty or thirty miles from Phila- 

 delphia, and observed, that at that season they fed mostly on the buds of 

 the trees, their tender blossoms, and upon insects, which they catch on 

 wing, making short sallies for the purpose. I saw several in the Great 

 Pine Forest of that State ; but they were more abundant in New York, 

 especially along the banks of the beautiful river called the Mohawk. 

 They are equally abundant along the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, 

 although I believe that the greater number go as far as New Brunswick 

 to breed. While on an excursion to the islands at the entrance of the 

 Bay of Fundy, in the beginning of May, my son shot several which were 

 in full song. These islands are about thirty miles distant from the main- 

 land. 



The most western place in which I found the nest of this species was 

 within a few miles of Cincinnati on the Ohio. It was placed in the up- 

 right forks of a low bush, and differed so much in its composition from 

 those which I have seen in the Eastern States, that it greatly resembled 

 the nest of the Blue Grosbeak already described. The young, three in 

 number, were ready to fly. The parents fed them on the soft grains of 

 wheat which they procured in a neighbouring field, and often searched 

 for insects in the crannies of the bark of trees, on which they alighted 

 sidewise, in the manner of sparrows. This was in the end of July. 

 Generally, however, the nest of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is placed on 

 the top branches of an alder bush, near water, and usually on the borders 

 of meadows or alluvial grounds. It is composed of the dried twigs of 

 trees, mixed with a few leaves and the bark of vines, and is lined with 

 fibrous roots and horse hair. The eggs are seldom more than four, and 

 I believe only one brood is raised in the season. Both sexes incubate. 

 I have found the nest and eggs, on the 20th of May, on the borders of 

 Cayuga Lake in the State of New York. 



