ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 
54 
nearly as well as the male. I do not know whether it be owing to some 
little jealousy on this score or not, that the male, 1 when both occupy the 
same cage, very often destroys the female. 
Species II. LOXIA LUDOVICIAKA. 
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 
[Plate XVII. Fig. 2, Male.] 
Loxia Ludoviciana, Gjiel. Si/st. r., p. 861. — Red-breasted Gmsbealc, Arct. Zool. p. 
350, No. 212. — Red-breasted Finch, Id. 372. No. 245. — Le Rose gorge, Buff, hi., 
4G0. — Gros-bec de la Louisiane, PI. Enl. 153, fig. 2. — Lath. Sijii. ir., 126. 
Tins elegant species is rarely found in the lower parts of Pennsyl- 
vania ; in the state of New York, and those of New England, it is more 
frequently observed ; particularly in fall when the berries of the sour 
gum are ripe, on the kernels of which it eagerly feeds. Some of its 
trivial names would import that it is also an inhabitant of Louisiana ; 
but I have not heard of its being seen in any of the Soutbern States. 
A gentleman of Middleton, Connecticut, informed me, that he kept one 
of these birds for some considerable time in a cage, and observed that 
it frequently sung at night, and all night ; that its notes were extremely 
clear and mellow, and the sweetest of any bird with which he is 
acquainted. 
The bird from which the figure on the plate was taken, was shot, late 
in April, on the borders of a swamp, a few miles from Philadelphia. 
Another male of the same species was killed at the same time, consider- 
ably different in its markings ; a proof that they do not acquire their 
full colors until at least the second spring or summer. 
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is eight inches and a half long, and 
thirteen inches in extent ; the whole upper parts are black except the 
second row of wing coverts, which are broadly tipped with white ; a spot 
of the same extends over the primaries, immediately below their coverts ; 
chin, neck and upper part of the breast black ; lower part of the breast, 
middle of the belly, and lining of the wings, a fine light carmine or 
rose-color ; tail forked, black, the three exterior feathers, on each side, 
white on their inner vanes for an inch or more from the tips ; bill, like 
those of its tribe, very thick and strong, and pure white ; legs and feet 
light blue ; eyes hazel. The young male of the first spring has the 
plumage of the back variegated with light brown, white and black ; a 
line of white extends over the eye ; the rose color also reaches to the 
base of the bill where it is speckled with black and white. The female 
