
334 FEMALE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 
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 con- 
spicuous in the male, and which is always more or less ap- 
parent 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 colour, of which the mother is 
quite destitute, soon begins to make its appearance, principally 
in small dots on the throat: this colour 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 combina- 
tions. 
For the description of the beautiful adult male we shall 
refer to Wilson, 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 climates of the southern States, and hardly 
ever appearing even in the more temperate. Its recent dis- 
covery 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 favourite abode is large forests, where 
