ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 33 
HYMENOPTERA. 
Hornets (Vespide) : Smooth-headed ants (Formicide). 
Vespa sp. 
NEUROPTERA. 
Mantispide: Mantispa sp. 
OTHER INVERTEBRATES. 
Spiders (Araneida). | Snails (Gastropoda), 
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 
(Zamelodia ludoviciana, Plate II1.) 
APPEARANCE, DISTRIBUTION, AND HABITS. 
The rose-breasted grosbeak, one of the loveliest and most valuable 
of our North American birds, is easily recognized by its characteristic 
coloring and big bill. The male is gayly clad in rose, white, and 
black, the brightest tint partly covering the breast and lining the 
wings. The female, while soberly clothed in buffy, grayish, and 
brown, can not be mistaken, once the appearance of the species is 
familiar, the plump form and thick bill sufficiently distinguishing her. 
The song of the male rosebreast is as charming as his appearance 
is striking, its notes being among the sweetest and most inspiring of 
the avian chorus. The bird seems never to tire of his music and may 
be heard during the hottest days and even at night. However, he 
is also a paragon of domesticity, taking turn with the female in 
incubating the eggs and later doing yeoman service in feeding the 
young. ; 
The bulky and loosely-fashioned nest is built in June, and 3 or 4 
eggs are laid. The nests are very often placed in orchard trees; 
indeed, where conditions permit, they are almost invariably in the 
vicinity of cultivated lands. 
The birds are fairly common, especially in the northern part of 
their range, but they are not evenly distributed. For instance, in one 
locality, for no obvious reasons, grosbeaks are absent, while in another 
near by several pairs may live. In Wisconsin 7 nests have been 
found in a space of not over 5 acres, and on the brushy banks of a 
little stream in New Jersey 11 pairs nested within a quarter of a 
mile. If these figures held for any considerable area, they would 
indicate that the bird was very abundant, and indeed it would 
appear that in most accounts the number of rose-breasted grosbeaks 
has been underestimated, unless we are to assume that of late years 
the bird has increased in numbers greatly. In parts of New England 
