The Black-headed Grosbeak 
By WILLIAM L. FINLEY 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 45 
The Black-headed Grosbeak is one of the birds of my childhood. As 
long ago as I can remember I saw him in the mulberry and the elder trees 
about my home when the fruit was ripe. I did not know his name, but 
I knew him by thick bill, his bright colors, and his high-keyed call-note. 
MALE BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK FEEDING YOUNG 
Photographed by Herman T. Bohlman 
One has little trouble in getting acquainted with a bird of so marked an 
individuality. The black head, the red-brown on the breast, brightening 
to lemon-yellow below and under the wings, the black tail, and the wings 
with two white wing-bars, are distinctive of the male. The female is 
more demurely dressed in dark brown and buff. But the garments are 
not the only distinctive features of the Black-headed Grosbeak. 
For several summers I watched a pair of these Grosbeaks that lived 
in a clump of vine-maples on the hillside. The same pair, no doubt, 
returned to the thicket for several years. It seemed that I could almost 
recognize the notes of their song. If our ears were tuned to the music 
of the birds could we not recognize individual birds by their songs,, 
as we do our friends by their voices ? 
