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SPECIES 2. LOXIk L UDO VICIdNd.
            ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
               [Plate XVII.-Fig. 2. Male.]
Loxia Ludoviciana, GME L. Syst. i, p. 861.-Red-breasted Gros-
  beak, .drct. Zool. p. 350, .N'o. 212.-Red-breasted Finch, Id. 372,
  .No. 245.-Le Rose gorge, BUFF. iII, 460.-Gros-bec de la
  Louisiane, P1. Enl. 1533,ftg. 2.-LATH. Syn. ir, 126.-PEALE'S
  Museum, J4o. 5806, male-5807, female-5806 ., male of one
  year old.
  THIS elegant species is rarely found in the lower parts of
Pennsylvania; in the state of New York, and those of New Eng-
land, it is more frequently observed; particularly in Fall when
the berries of the sour gum are ripe, on the kernels of which it
eagerly feeds. Some of its trivial names would import, that it
is also an inhabitant of Louisiana; but I have not heard of its
being seen in any of the southern states. A gentleman of Mid-
dleton, Connecticut, informed me, that he kept one of these
birds for some considerable time in a cage, and observed that it
frequently sung at night, and all night; that its notes were ex-
tremely clear and mellow, and the sweetest of any bird with
which he is acquainted.
  The bird from which the figure on the plate was taken, was
shot, late in April, on the borders of a swamp, a few miles from
Philadelphia. Another male of the same species was killed at
the same time, considerably different in its markings; a proof
that they do not acquire their full colours until at least the se-
cond spring or summer.
  The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is eight inches and a half long,
and thirteen inches in extent; the whole upper parts are black
except the second row of wing coverts, which are broadly tipt