. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . ^ years agoit was considered rare. It iscommon, too, about the fields andgardens. Its sweet warbling may beheard from the tall shade trees of theFig. 78. — Rose-breasted village strcct. The introduction andGrosbeak, , about v^prcad of the Colorado potato beetle, one-half natural size. , ■ which reached Massachusetts aboutthirty years ago, may have had something to do wi
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . ^ years agoit was considered rare. It iscommon, too, about the fields andgardens. Its sweet warbling may beheard from the tall shade trees of theFig. 78. — Rose-breasted village strcct. The introduction andGrosbeak, , about v^prcad of the Colorado potato beetle, one-half natural size. , ■ which reached Massachusetts aboutthirty years ago, may have had something to do with thisincrease in the number of Grosbeaks, for they are among thefew birds that wnll eat this beetle. They seek the beetlesso assiduously everywhere that they are often locally knownas potato ])ug birds. This Grosbeak has now become com-mon throughout most of Massachusetts, except on Cape conunon note of this bird is a thin, sharp eek, quite dif-ferent from that of any other eastern bird. The song is astrong, rolling carol, somewhat like that of the Robin in. SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 217 tone, but much purer and of far finer (luality. It seems toconvey to the listener not so much the bright good cheer ofthe Robin, as a sort of pure joy, expressed in most exqui-sitely liquid tones. In May, when the Grosbeaks are mating, two or more ofthe males sometimes engage in fierce and even Ijloody battlesfor the favors of some coveted female. At such times themales join in a general melee, warbling meanwhile theirchoicest strains, until the weaker come to the ground ex-hausted, while the strong and favored bird leads his chosenbride away in triumph. I well recall the day when, as a boy, I first found the nestof this bird, built high in an alder bush l)y a little run, onthe edo;e of some i>reat chest-nut woods. A black-and-whitebird of striking appearance saton the nest, covering the eggs,and manifesting no alarm at mypresence. I thought it a newspecies, for there
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