The grosbeak is a name applied to a number of birds belonging to the sparrow family. They are characterized by stout, that is to say, gros beaks. The evening grosbeak is a yellowish bird with a black crown, belly, tail, and wing, the coverts of the latter being white. Its mate is of a brownish gray. It ranges from Manitoba northward, coming south into the United States in winter, but it seldom rambles south of Minnesota. The pine grosbeak, of a slaty gray washed with rose color, ranges with its slaty gray mate from Maine to Alaska. It nests in the pines before snow and ice have disappeared. In midwinter it comes south for a supply of sumac and mountain-ash berries. The rose-breasted grosbeak has a rose-red breast and black upper parts. His mate is dressed in brown, buff, and orange. This grosbeak nests from North Carolina and Kansas northward. It is especially welcome in gardens and orchards on account of its insect-eating proclivity. It is one of the few birds that devour the Colorado potato beetle.
