MAY BIRDS. 59 



pllshed ventriloquist, and one of the most 

 experienced and learned students ^ of bird- 

 songs in the State has told me that it is 

 impossible for him to trace home the scar- 

 let tanager by his song alone. The female 

 is of a yellowish-green color, and would 

 never be suspected for a moment of being 

 in any wise related to her brilliant mate. 



That the scarlet tanager is not better 

 known than he is, notwithstanding his bril- 

 liant plumage, is perhaps not at all sur- 

 prising, in view of the secluded localities 

 which he generally frequents; but the red- 

 eyed vireo {vifeo oHvaceus^ can scarcely 

 be said to leave this excuse open, yet I 

 surmise that not one in ten of my readers 

 ever heard of him. Abundant everywhere 

 in the deep woods, where he is heard in 

 company with the oven-bird, the tanager, 

 and the redstart, and along our city streets, 

 where his song blends with that of the 

 warbling vireo, the purple finch, the yel- 

 low warbler, the robin, and the chippee, 

 this little vireo sings constantly his un- 



1 Mr. E. H. Forbush, of Worcester, Mass — Eds. 



