Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/205

Rh summer, and about two in the autumn ; at all other periods it simply uttered a faint chuck, and seemed to possess many of the ordinary habits of the Blue Grosbeak."

The food of this beautiful bird consists of seeds of the cereal plants, of 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. I have placed several of these birds of both sexes, and of different ages, on a branch of the ground hemlock, the berries of which they attack for their seeds.

LoxiA LUDoviciANA, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 306 Lath. Index Ornith. vol. i. p. 379.

Frin&illa LUDOVICIANA, Ch. BonopaHe, Synops. of Eirds of the United States, p. 113 Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 52?.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Loxia rosea, Wils. Amer. Ornith. voL ii. p. 135.

pi. 17- fig. 1- Male — Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith. vol. ii. pi. 14. fig. 2. Fe- male.

CoccoTHRASTES LUDOVICIANA, Swaius. aiid Richards. Fauna. Bor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 271.

Adult Male. Plate CXXVII. Fig. 1,1.

Bill short, robust, bulging at the base, conical, acute ; upper man- dible with its dorsal outline a little convex, the sides rounded, the edges sharp ; lower mandible with its dorsal outline also a little convex, the sides rounded, the edges inflected ; the gap-line is deflected at the base, then straight to the end. Nostrils basal, roundish, open, partly concealed by the feathers. Head rather large, neck short, general form robust. Legs of moderate length, rather strong ; tarsus anteriorly covered with a few scutella, the upper long, posteriorly sharp ; toes scutellate above, free, the lateral ones nearly equal ; claws slender, arched, compressed, acute, that of the hind toe not much larger.

Plumage soft and blended, but firm and elastic. Wings of moderate length, broad, the second, third, and fourth quills longest, the secondaries rounded. Tail longish, slightly emarginate, of twelve rounded feathers.

Bill white. Iris hazel. Feet greyish-blue. The head all round, including the upper part of the neck, the hind neck, the back, wings, and tail, glossy black ; the first row of coverts, the tips of the secondary coverts, the basal half of the primary quills, and the inner webs towards the end of the three lateral tail-feathers, white, as is the rump, that part.