A BRILLIANT PAIR 195 



colors in open places. He knows enough not to make 

 himself a target for cannibal birds or House People 

 either. Except in his journeys to and from his winter 

 home he lives in the shelter of the tallest forest trees, 

 where it is very difficult to see him, showy as he is in 

 his flashing colors, and even if you know by his song 

 that he is there. He may say, as some people think 

 he does, ' Pshaw ! wait — wait — wait for me, wait I ' 

 but he does not wait a moment if he thinks he is seen. 



" He is very fond of water, both for bathing and 

 drinking, and seldom nests far from it. Whether he 

 uses the quiet ponds and smooth streams also for a 

 looking-glass to comb his hair and arrange his gay coat 

 by, we cannot be sure, but he always looks as trig as if 

 he had some such aid. 



" The Tanager children are curious things. Some- 

 times they w^ear coats of many colors, like Joseph's." 



" Why is that ? " asked Nat. 



" The reason is this. You remember I told you tliat 

 young l)irds usually wear plain feathers like their 

 mothers ? " 



" Oh, yes," said Rap ; " so that it is hard to see them 

 until they have sense enough to take care of them- 

 selves." 



" Precisely ! Now, Mother Tanager is greenish and 

 yellow, and Father Tanager is scarlet and black. The 

 young ones come from the nest looking like their 

 mother, but as they shed their baby clothes and gain 

 new feathers, bits of red and black appear here and 

 there on the little boys, until they look as if they had 

 on a crazy-quilt of red, yellow, green, and black. You 

 need not wonder that little Tommy Tanager does not 



