Conspicuously Black and White 
the tallest stalks that the wind in the open meadows uncovers, 
the snowflakes suggest a lot of dead leaves being blown through 
the all-pervading whiteness. Beautiful soft brown, gray, and 
predominating black-and-white coloring distinguish these capri- 
cious visitors from the slaty junco, the “snowbird” more com- 
monly known. They are, indeed, the only birds we have that 
are nearly white; and rarely, if ever, do they rise far above the 
ground their plumage so admirably imitates. 
At the far north, travellers have mentioned their inspiriting 
song, but in the United States we hear only their cheerful twitter. 
Nansen tells of seeing an occasional snow bunting in that desola- 
tion of arctic ice where the Fram drifted so long. 
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
( Flabia ludoviciana) Finch family 
Length — 7.75 to 8.5 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. 
Male — Head and upper parts black. Breast has rose-carmine 
shield-shaped patch, often extending downward to the centre 
of the abdomen. Underneath, tail quills, and two spots on 
wings white. Conspicuous yellow, blunt beak. 
Female — Brownish, with dark streakings, like a sparrow. No 
rose-color. Light sulphur yellow under wings. Dark brown, 
heavy beak. 
Range — Eastern North America, from southern Canada to Panama. 
Migrations — Early May. September. Summer resident. 
A certain ornithologist tells with complacent pride of having 
shot over fifty-eight rose-breasted grosbeaks in less than three 
weeks (during the breeding season) to learn what kind of food 
they had in their crops. This kind of devotion to science may 
have quite as much to do with the growing scarcity of this bird 
in some localities as the demands of the milliners, who, however, 
receive all of the blame for the slaughter of our beautiful songsters. 
The farmers in Pennsylvania, who, with more truth than poetry, 
call this the potato-bug bird, are taking active measures, how- 
ever, to protect the neighbor that is more useful to their crop than 
all the insecticides known. It also eats flies, wasps, and grubs. 
Seen upon the ground, the dark bird is scarcely attractive with 
his clumsy beak overbalancing a head that protrudes with stupid- 
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