224 HIS MARRIAGE DRESS. 



exhibiting any partiality. The parties to this 

 curious affair were, first, the beloved, a male 

 scarlet tanager, whose summer coat was disfig- 

 ured with patches of the winter dress he was 

 trying to put on ; and secondly, the lover, a 

 male English goldfinch, scarcely half his size. 

 The tanager, as perhaps every one knows, is 

 one of our most brilliant birds, bright scarlet 

 with black wings and tail. He is as shy as he 

 is gay, living usually in the woods, and not 

 taking at all kindly to the enforced companion- 

 ship of mankind. I had long been anxious to 

 make the acquaintance of this retiring bird, 

 partly because I desire to know personally all 

 American birds, and partly because I wanted 

 to watch his change of plumage ; for the scarlet 

 uniform is only the marriage dress, and put off 

 at the end of the season. Hence whenever I 

 saw a tanager in a New York bird store I 

 brought it home, though dealers always warned 

 me that it would not live in confinement. My 

 first attempts were disastrous, certainly. The 

 birds refused to become reconciled, even with 

 all the privileges I gave them, and one after 

 another died, I believe for no other reason than 

 their longing for freedom. Let me say here 

 that feeling thus, they would have received 

 their liberty, much as I wished to study them, 

 only their plumage was not in condition to fly, 



