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ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



Fringilla ludoviciana. Bo nap. 



PLATE CXXVII. Vol. II. p. 166. 



Although this beautiful bird is common about the mouths of the 

 Mississippi in spring, when on its way northward, it is never seen in 

 South Carolina. When proceeding to the Texas in April 1837, I 

 found it so abundant wherever we landed that hundreds might have been 

 procured. Both sexes were in perfect plumage. Dr Townsend ob- 

 served it on the Missouri ; and Dr T. M. Brewer informs me that he 

 shot a fine male at Fresh Pond, near Boston, in the summer of 1832, 

 and knew of two or three females killed afterwards. 



In an adult male from Texas, the palate is deeply concave in the 

 middle, with two prominent longitudinal ridges, forming a large pro- 

 jection at their meeting anteriorly ; it ascends obliquely, is gradually 

 narrowed, and beyond the nostrils becomes horizontal, the upper man- 

 dible beneath being concave, with three strong longitudinal ridges and 

 four grooves ; the lower mandible is very deeply concave. The poste- 

 rior aperture of the nares is 3 twelfths long, oblongo-linear, margined 

 with papillse. The width of the mouth is 6 twelfths. The tongue is 

 5| twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the base, convex and 

 fleshy above, as high as broad, horny beneath, and tapering to a point. 

 (Esophagus 3 inches 2 twelfths long, nearly uniformly 3 twelfths wide. 

 Stomach small, roundish, compressed, ^ inch long, and of the same 

 breadth ; its muscles distinct and of moderate thickness, the tendons 

 large, the epithelium thin, tough, longitudinally rugous, and of a red- 

 dish-brown colour. The contents of the stomach small seeds and par- 

 ticles of quartz. Intestine 9 J inches long,, its width from 2 twelfths to 

 1| twelfth ; coeca 1^ twelfth long, \ twelfth in breadth, 1 inch distant 

 from the extremity. 



Trachea 2 inches 1 twelfth long, from 1 twelfth to i twelfth in breadth; 

 the rings about 70, firm, considerably flattened. Bronchi of about 15 

 rings. Muscles as usual in this family ; the inferior laryngeal large. 

 There are very slender elongated salivary glands, extending to beyond 

 the articulation of the jaw. 



VOL. V. K k 



