BLUE GROSBEAK. 
279 
Wvinnf but few notes, is more rarely observed. Their 
>aost common note is a loud chuch ; they have also at 
times a few low, sweet toned notes. They are sometimes 
kept in cajres, in Carolina; but seldom siu;f in contine- 
ttient. The individiiiil represented in the plate was a 
t'ery eleg’ant s|)ecimen, in exeellent order, thonRh just 
arrived from Charleston, South Carolina. During its 
stay with me, I fed it on Indian corn, which it seemed 
to "prefer, easily breaking with its powerful bill the 
hardest grains. They also feed on hemp seed, millet, 
and the kernels of several kinds of berries. They are 
timid birds, watchful, silent, and active, and generally 
leat in their plumage. Having never yet met with 
their nest, 1 am unable at present to describe it. 
The blue grosbeak is si.v- inches long, and ten Inches 
>n e.vtent ; lores and frontlet, black ; whole upper parts, 
a rich purplish blue, more dull on the back, where it 
's streaked with dusky ; greater wing-coverts, black, 
edged at the tip wdth bay ; next superior row, wholly 
eliestnut ; rest of the wing, black, skirted with blue ; 
tail, forked, black, slightly edged with bluish, and 
Sometimes minutely tipt with white; legs and feet, 
lead colour ; bill, a dusky bluish horn colour ; eye, large, 
loll, and black. 
Tile female Is of a d.ark drab colour, tinged with 
klue, and considerably lightest below. I suspect the 
•hales are subject to a’ change of colour during winter. 
The young, as usual with many other species, do not 
deceive the blue colour until the ensuing spring, and, 
t'll then, very much resemble the female. 
Latham makes two varieties of this species ; the first, 
'"'holly blue, except a black spot betu’een the bill and 
hye ; this bird inhabits Brazil, and is figured by Brisson, 
No. 6, pi. 17, lig. 2. The other 
also generally of a line deep blue, except the (pulls, 
^ail, and legs, which are black ; this is Kd wards s blue 
Shosbeak, from Angola,” pi. 125; which Dr Latham 
Suspects to have been brought from sonic of the Brazi- 
han settlements, and considers both as mere varieties of 
^he first. I am sorry I cannot clear up this matter. 
