A BRILLIANT PAIR 199 



ever wrote. They also saved the specimen and after- 

 ward gave it to Alexander Wilson, who painted the 

 first picture of it, and named it the Louisiana Tanager 

 in his book." 



"Did you ever see one alive. Uncle Roy?" asked 

 Nat ; " what does it look like flying ? " 



" I can answer that question," said Olive ; " don't 

 you remember, father, when we were in Colorado, the 

 same year we found the Sage Thrasher and Rock 

 Wren, that I thought the first one we saw w^as a Scarlet 

 Tanager in one of its patch-work plumages, till you 

 told me about it — though it did seem to be too bright 

 yellow, and the middle of the back was black. But it 

 looked the same size, and flew just the same. How 

 beautiful it looked, as it flashed its golden feathers 

 through the dark-green pine trees ! " added Olive, her 

 face lighting up at the recollection. 



" Yes, I remember," answered the Doctor. " All the 

 Tanagers of our country have pretty much the same 

 habits. Even if Ave had found the nest we might have 

 mistaken it for a Scarlet Tanager's. Those I have seen 

 in the Museum are quite similar, built of twigs and 

 pliant stems, and lined with fine rootlets. The posi- 

 tion of the nest, saddled as it is on the horizontal limb 

 of a tree, is very similar, and you could hardly tell the 

 eggs apart. 



" But come, children, you must be tired by this time, 

 and hungry too. Let us go to supper, and see what 

 Mammy Bun has cooked for us this evening. You stay 

 too, Rap." 



