ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAjX. 265 



the Thrushes. About 8 inches long ; the head, neck and 

 upper parts are black ; bill, rump, under parts and mark- 

 ings on wings and tail, white ; breast, rose-carmine ; lining 

 under the wings, delicate rose. The female has the upper 

 parts light brown, streaked with darker ; a line over the eye, 

 a slight one below it, and one over the middle of the crown; 

 tips of wing coverts, and ^nder parts, white ; breast and 

 sides streaked and spotted with brown ; bright yellow under 

 the wings, and sometimes a tinge of the same on the upper 

 part of the breast. I have also seen a rose-tint mixed with 

 the yellow under her vi/^ings, and a most delicate tinge of the 

 purest rose on the white rump of the male. The large bill 

 of this bird, so strongly characterizing it and the group to 

 v/hich it belongs, is in such harmony with the general shape 

 of the head as in nowise to mar its beauty. Indeed, the 

 ueshy-tinged whiteness of this prominent organ rather adds 

 to the elegance of the species. 



The stranger to our sylvan retreats will scarcely meet 

 this charming bird; for its most agreeable summer 

 resort is in swampy woods, where the shadows are 

 deepened by tangled vines and a rank undergrowth, 

 where flowers are large and deeply tinted from rich vege- 

 table molds, and v/here the fragrant atmosphere is cool and 

 moist. Often it is found in the thickets forming a sort of 

 border-line betv/een field and forest, and often in the lofty 

 arcades of the densest and d rkest woodlands. In such 

 places, and rather local in his distribution, the male makes 

 his appearance in Western New York from the first to the 

 teiiUi of May; and stretching himself on tiptoe, delivers, in 

 a hurried and spirited manner, his rare and delightful 

 melody, giving one the impression of an exalted and unut- 

 terrale joy in a language whicb means much, but leaves 

 much jchind. Sometimes several appear together, vying 



