THE BLUE GROSBEAK. 
205 
spread around them. Humbly and inconspicuously clad as the young birds 
are, most of them escape the talon of the watchful Hawk, or the fire of the 
mischief-loving gunner. The parents soon join them, and no sooner is their 
favourite rice gathered, than the whole fly off, find gradually wend their 
way to warmer climes. 
Although this sweet songster spends the spring and summer in our South- 
ern States, it must be considered as a rather scarce bird there. It seldom 
enters deep woods, but prefers such low grounds as I have described above, 
or the large and level abandoned fields covered with rank grasses and patches 
of low bushes. It arrives in the lower parts of Louisiana about the middle 
of March, the males appearing eight or ten days before the females, in small 
parties of five or sis, when their common call-note, a single chuck, is fre- 
quently uttered to attract the females. They proceed through Alabama, 
Georgia, and the Carolinas, in all which districts tliey breed. Beyond this, 
however, few are to be met with. I never observed this species on the 
Mississippi farther up than the neighbourhood of Natchez ; nor is it ever seen 
in Kentucky, or in any other part of the western country. Along the 
Atlantic coast it is rarely found beyond the State of New Jersey. 
It is remarkable that, although this bird seldom places its nest more than 
a few feet from the ground, it is fond of ascending to the tops of the tallest 
detached trees, to sing, during the spring and summer, rarely performing 
that pleasant duty among the low bushes which it usually inhabits. 
One or two pairs of these birds generally take possession of a field, for the 
purpose of breeding, making choice of one little frequented by other birds. 
There, in the most secluded part, the Blue Grosbeak builds its nest, placing 
it in the upright fork of some small slender bush, or attaching it to the tall 
blades of a tuft of rank grass. It is composed of fine dried grasses, which 
are more carefully arranged towards the interior, and is lined with a few 
delicate fibrous roots, dried moss, or horse-hair. There are seldom more 
than four eggs, but two broods are raised in the season. When the first 
broods leave their parents, the young birds assemble in small flocks com- 
posed of a few families, and resort mostly to the rice fields, feeding on the 
grain when yet in its milky state, and until it is gathered. The parents 
join them with their second brood, and shortly after, or about the first days 
of September, they all depart southward. 
In the summer of 1829, I accidentally met with a nest of these birds in 
the State of New Jersey, a few miles only from Philadelphia. I was attract- 
ed towards it by the cries of the birds, both of which were perched on a tall 
hickory tree, standing on a piece of barren ground, near a swamp, well 
known on account of the visits it receives during the Woodcock season. I 
looked for the nest for some time in vain. The parents left the tree, flew 
Vol. III. 34 
