(Zamelodia ludoviciana.)

The beautiful rose-breasted grosbeak (fig. 15) breeds in the northern half of the United States east of the Missouri River, but spends its winters beyond our boundaries. Unfortunately it is not abundant in New England, and nowhere as plentiful as it should be. It frequents groves and orchards rather than gardens or dooryards, but probably the beauty of the male is the greatest obstacle to its increase; the fully adult bird is pure black and white, with a broad patch of brilliant rose color upon the breast and under each wing. On account of this attractive plumage the birds are highly prized for ladies' hats; and consequently heave been shot in season and out, till the wonder is not that there are so few, but that any remain at all.

When the Colorado potato beetle first swept over the land, and naturalists and farmers were anxious to discover whether or not there were any enemies which would prey upon the pest, the grosbeak was almost the only bird seen to eat the beetles. Further observation confirmed the fact, and there can be no reasonable doubt that where the bird is abundant it has contributed very much to the abatement of the pest which has been noted during the last decade. But this is not the only good which the bird does, for many other noxious insects besides the potato beetle are also eaten.

The vegetable food of the grosbeak consists of buds and blossoms of forest trees, and seeds, but the only damage of which it has been accused is the stealing of green peas. The writer has observed it eating peas and has examined the stomachs of several that had been killed in the very act. The stomachs contained a few peas and enough potato beetles, old and young, as well as other harmful insects, to pay for all the peas the birds would be likely to eat in a whole season. The garden where this took place adjoined a small potato field which earlier in the season had been so badly infested with the beetles that the vines were completely riddled. The grosbeaks visited the field every day, and finally brought their fledged young. The young birds stood in a row on the topmost rail of the fence and were fed with the beetles which their parents gathered. When a careful inspection was made a few days later, not a beetle, old or young, could be found; the birds had swept them from the field and saved the potatoes.

It is easy to advise measures either for increasing the numbers of this bird or inducing it to take up its residence on the farm. Naturally it inhabits thin, open woods or groves, and the change from such places to orchards would be simple—in fact, has already been made in some parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio. In New England the bird is somewhat rare, and perhaps the best that can be done here or elsewhere it to see that it is thoroughly protected.