Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/179

Rh The song of the Blue Grosbeak is prolonged or rapidly renewed, and resembles that of the Rice Bird (Fringilla oryzivora), but it seldom sings after the breeding season. Its flight is prolonged, undulating, and rapid, resembling that of the Rose-breasted species. They hop on the ground, where they pick up gravel to mix with their food, and frequently bathe. They are confined to the maritime districts, seldom going more than forty or fifty miles inland.

Individuals are now and then exposed for sale in the markets of the southern cities, where, on account of the difficulty experienced in catch- ing them, they sell for about a dollar the pair.

The young, which has heretofore been represented as the female, does not attain its full plumage until the third year, and in the mean time varies but little from the one represented in the plate. In the course of the se- cond autumn, it shews spots of blue irregularly placed on its back, and the following spring acquires its full beauty. The male and female re- presented in the same plate are both adult, and in their perfect spring plumage. They retain their colours unimpaired during winter, while in confinement, which is therefore probably the case in the countries to which they resort at that season.

Fringilla ccerulea, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 114, — Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 529.

LoxiA CCERULEA, Linn, Sjst. Nat. vol. i. p. 306 Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 374. Blue Grosebeak, Loxia cuerulea, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 78. PI. 24. fig. 6.

Adult Male. Plate CXXII. Fig. 1.

Bill rather short, robust, bulging a little at the base, conical, acute ; upper mandible with its dorsal outline very slightly convex, as is the lower, both rounded on the sides, the edges acute and straight to near the base, where they are a little deflected. Nostrils basal, roundish, open, par- tially concealed by the feathers. Head rather large, neck short, body robust. Legs of moderate size ; tarsus of the same length as the middle toe, covered anteriorly with a few scutella, the upper long, posteriorly sharp edged ; toes scutellate above, free, the lateral ones nearly equal ; claws slender, arched, compressed, acute.

Plumage soft, rather compact above, blended beneath. Wings of