272 FEMALE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



of the throat, the belly, and under tail-coverts are unspotted ; the base 

 of the plumage is everywhere plumbeous ; the wings are rounded, less 

 than four inches long, entirely dusky brown, somewhat darker on the 

 spurious wing, all the feathers, both quills and coverts, being lighter on 

 their edges ; the exterior webs of the middle and larger wing-coverts 

 are whitish at tip, constituting two white bands across the wings ; the 

 primaries are whitish at the origin beneath the spurious wing; the 

 secondaries are inconspicuously whitish externally at tip, that nearest 

 tiie body having a very conspicuous whitish spot : the lower wing- 

 coverts are of a bright buff, and as they are red in the male, afford an 

 excellent essential character for the species : the tail is three inches 

 long, nearly even, and of a paler dusky brown ; the two outer feathers 

 are slightly edged internally with whitish, but without the "least trace 

 of the large spot so conspicuous in the male, and which is always more 

 or less apparent in the young of that sex : the feet are dusky, the 

 tarsus measuring seven-eighths of an inch. 



The young male is at first very similar to the female, and is, even in 

 extreme youth, paler and somewhat more spotted ; but a little of the 

 beautiful rose color, of which the mother is quite destitute, soon begins 

 to make its appearance, principally in small dots on the throat : this 

 color spreads gradually, and the wings and tail, and soon after the head, 

 blacken, of course presenting as they advance in age a great variety of 

 combinations. 



For the description of the beautiful, adult male, we shall refer to Wil- 

 son, whose description is good, and the figure accurate, but not having 

 stated any particulars about the habits of the species, we shall subjoin 

 the little that is known of them. Though long since recorded to be an' 

 inhabitant of Louisiana, whence it was first received in Europe, recent 

 observations, and the opinion of Wilson, had rendered this doubtful, 

 and it was believed to be altogether an Arctic bird, averse to the warm 

 climate of the Southern States, and hardly ever appearing even in the 

 more temperate. Its recent discovery in Mexico is therefore a very 

 interesting and no less remarkable fact, and we may safely conclude 

 that this bird migrates extensively according to season, spending the 

 summer in the north, or in the mountains, and breeding there ; and in 

 winter retiring southward, or descending into the plains ; being however 

 by no means numerous in any known district, or at any season, though 

 perhaps more frequent on the borders of Lake Ontario. Its favorite 

 abode is large forests, where it affects the densest and most gloomy 

 retreats. The nest is placed among the thick foliage of trees, and is 

 constructed of twigs outside, and lined with fine grasses within ; the 

 female lays four or five white eggs, spotted with brown. This may also 

 be called an " Evening Grosbeak," for it also sings during the solemn 

 stillness of night, uttering a clear, mellow, and harmonious note. 



