212 
THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK 
Grasses, and those of different kinds of berries, along with insects. The 
young are three years in obtaining their full dress, and undergo their changes 
very slowly. 
Although common about the mouths of the Mississippi in spring, when on 
its way northward, this species is never seen in South Carolina. When 
proceeding to the Texas in April, 1837, 1 found it so abundant wherever we 
landed that hundreds might have been procured. Both sexes were in perfect 
plumage. Mr. Townsend observed it on the Missouri ; and Dr. T. M. 
Brewer informs me that he shot a fine male at Fresh Pond, near Boston, 
in the summer of 1832, and knew of two or three females killed afterwards. 
In an adult male from Texas, the palate is deeply concave in the middle, 
with two prominent longitudinal ridges, forming a large projection at their 
meeting anteriorly ; it ascends obliquely, is gradually narrowed, and beyond 
the nostrils becomes horizontal, the upper mandible beneath being concave, 
with three strong longitudinal ridges and four grooves ; the lower mandible 
is very deeply concave. The posterior aperture of the nares is 3 twelfths 
long, oblongo-linear, margined with papillse. The width of the mouth is 6 
twelfths. The tongue is 53 twelfths long, emarginate and papillate at the 
base, convex and fleshy above, as high as broad, horny beneath, and tapering 
to a point. (Esophagus 3 inches 2 twelfths long, nearly uniformly 3 twelfths 
wide. Stomach small, roundish, compressed, \ inch long, and of the same 
breadth ; its muscles distinct and of moderate thickness, the tendons large, 
the epithelium thin, tough, longitudinally rugous, and of a reddish-brown 
colour. The contents of the stomach small seeds and particles of quartz. 
Intestine inches long, its width from 2 twelfths to 1 h twelfths ; coeca li 
twelfths long, h twelfth in breadth, 1 inch distant from the extremity. 
Trachea 2 inches 1 twelfth long, from 1 twelfth to i twelfth in breadth , 
the rings about 70, firm, considerably flattened. Bronchi of about 15 rings. 
Muscles as usual in this family ; the inferior laryngeal large. There are 
very slender elongated salivary glands, extending to beyond the articulation 
of the jaw. 
Male, 7f, 13. 
Passes from Texas northward and eastward in great numbers. Breeds on 
the Missouri, in the Middle States, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Rather 
common. Migratory. 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Loxia rosea , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 135 
Fringilla ludoviciana, Bonap. Syn., p. 113. 
Coccotiiraustes ludoviciana, Bose-breasted Grosbeak , F. Bor. Amer., vol. i.p. 271. 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Fringilla ludoviciana, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 527. 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Fringilla ludoviciana, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 1G6; 
vol. v. p. 513. 
