138 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



Eose-breasted Grosbeak 



line over the eye and orange under the wing. Its warbling 

 notes are somewhat like those of the robin, but more melodious 



and very frequently 

 ' given in the even- 

 ing. It is one of 

 our most beautiful 

 birds and sings an 

 exqiiisite song. 



Length, 8 ; wing, 4 

 (.3|-4i) ; tail, 3J ; tar- 

 sus, I ; oulmen, f. East- 

 ern United States, from 

 the eastern borderof the 

 Plains; breeding from the mountains of the Carolinas and Kansas north- 

 ward to southern Canada, and wintering in Mexico to northern South 

 America. 



47. Black-headed Grosbeak (596. Zamelddia melanociphala). 

 -— An orange-bodied grosbeak with black head, wings, and 

 tail. The wings are much blotched 

 with white, and the belly and under 

 wing coverts are bright yellow. The 

 female is very different, a streaky- 

 brown bird much like the female 

 of the last species, but with the 

 under wing coverts clear lemon- 

 yellow instead of the salmon- or 

 orange-yellow of that species. The 

 dimensions of parts are practi- 

 cally the same as those of the 

 rose-breasted grosbeak. Western 

 United States from middle Kansas 

 to the Pacific. 



48. Blue Grosbeak (597. Guirhca 

 (:a;rMea). — A southern, uncrested, 

 dull-blue grosbeak, with a large 

 chestnut-colored blotch on the wings 



Blue Grosbeak 



wings, tail, chin, and 



