532 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
241. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Zamelodia ludoviciana (Linn.). (595) 
Synonyms: Common Grosbeak, Summer Grosbeak, Potato-bug Bird.—Loxia ludovi- 
ciana, Linn., 1766, Wilson, 1810.—Guiraca ludoviciana, Swains.—Coccoborus ludovicianus, 
Aud.—Hedymeles ludovicianus, Sclater and others.—Goniaphea ludoviciana, Coues, 1873. 
—Habia ludoviciana, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886. 
Plate LIV and Figure 121. 
Male, in spring, black, white and rose-color in large masses, the short 
thick bill nearly white. Female brown or gray, heavily streaked with 
brown, the wings lined with salmon or yellow, and a distinct whitish line 
over and behind the eye. 
Distribution.—Eastern United States and southern Canada, west to 
Manitoba and the eastern border of the Plains, breeding from Kansas, 
and the mountains of the Carolinas northward; south in winter to Cuba, 
Central America, and northern South America. 
This beautiful bird, one of our most brilhant species and a fine singer 
as well, is generally distributed during summer over the entire state, but 
apparently in greatest abund- 
ance in the Lower Peninsula, 
although it is reported as not 
uncommon at Sault Ste. 
Marie, Marquette, and all the 
intervening country in the 
Upper Peninsula, as well as 
from Ikeweenaw Point. Mr. 
Norman A. Wood states also 
that several were noted on 
Isle Royale, in northwestern 
Lake Superior, in September 
1904. 
In the southern part of 
the state it arrives from the 
south during the last week in 
April or the first week in May, 
and probably reaches the 
northern sections from the Tig. 121. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Adult female. 
middle to the last of the From Hoffman’s Guide to the Birds of New England and 
month. Mr. Swales’ earliest Tastern New York. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 
record at Detroit is April 30, 1896 and his latest in the fall is Oc- 
tober 21, 1893. He thinks the greater number leave for the south be- 
tween the middle and last of September. Jike the Baltimore Oriole and 
several other common species the Grosbeak becomes very scarce soon 
after nesting, and during August very few are to be found. It becomes 
more abundant, however, early in September, after the fall plumage has 
been acquired. 
It seems probable that this species has greatly increased in numbers 
within the last few decades. This is true not only of Michigan, but of a 
large part of the eastern United States. The bird does not shun the vicinity 
of man, but nests almost as frequently in orchards and parks as in the 
forest. It seems to prefer second growth timber, and especially regions 
