210 THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 



I have frequently observed this beautiful species, early in the month of 

 March, in the lower parts of Louisiana, making its way eastward; and when 

 residing at Henderson in Kentucky, and in Cincinnati in Ohio, I have 

 noticed the same circumstance. At this early period, it passes at a con- 

 siderable height in the air, and now and then alights on the tops of the 

 tallest trees of the forest, as if to rest awhile. While on wing it utters a 

 clear note, but when perched it remains silent, in an upright and rather stiff 

 attitude. It is then easily approached. I have followed it in its migrations 

 into Pennsylvania, New York, and other Eastern States, through the British 

 provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as far as Newfoundland, 

 where many breed, but I saw none in Labrador. It is never seen in the 

 maritime parts of Georgia, or those of the Carolinas, but some have been 

 procured in the mountainous portions of those States. I have found them 

 rather plentiful in the early part of May, along the steep banks of the 

 Schuykill river, twenty or thirty miles from Philadelphia, and observed, that 

 at that season they fed mostly on the buds of the trees, their tender blossoms, 

 and upon insects, which they catch on wing, making short sallies for the 

 purpose. I saw several in the Great Pine Forest of Pennsylvania; but they 

 were more abundant in New York, especially along the banks of the beau- 

 tiful river called the Mohawk. They are equally abundant along the shores 

 of Lakes Ontario and Erie, although I believe that the greater number go 

 as far as New Brunswick to breed. While on an excursion to the islands at 

 the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, in the beginning of May, my son shot 

 several which were in full song. These islands are about thirty miles distant 

 from the main land. 



The most western place in which I found the nest of this species was 

 within a few miles of Cincinnati on the Ohio. It was placed in the upright 

 forks of a low bush, and differed so much in its composition from those 

 which I have seen in the Eastern States, that it greatly resembled the nest 

 of the Blue Grosbeak already described. The young, three in number, 

 were ready to fly. The parents fed them on the soft grains of wheat which 

 they procured in a neighbouring field, and often searched for insects in the 

 crannies of the bark of trees, on which they alighted sidewise, in the manner 

 of Sparrows. This was in the end of July. Generally, however, the nest of 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is placed on the top branches of an alder bush, 

 near water, and usually on the borders of meadows or alluvial grounds. It 

 is composed of the dried twigs of trees, mixed with a few leaves and the 

 bark of vines, and is lined with fibrous roots and horse-hair. The eggs are 

 seldom more than four, and I believe only one brood is raised in the season. 

 Both sexes incubate. I have found the nest and eggs, on the 20th of May, 

 on the borders of Cayuga Lake in the State of New York. 



