150 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



and tail, which are jet black. So splendid a bird, if 

 he flies across the road from one patch of woods to 

 another, can not fail to catch the eye on a bright day. 



But the flash of color is 

 sudden and momentary 

 he is gone in less time than 

 it takes to tell it ! This is 

 the male bird, though ; the 

 female is dressed in a modest 

 costume of yellow-olive green, a 

 splendid foil for her scarlet mate. 

 She builds her very slight nest in 

 an orchard tree, perhaps, and in it 

 lays four light green -blue eggs 

 speckled with madder brown. 



The scarlet tanager is most fre- 

 quently heard on the edge of the wood that borders 

 the road ; he rarely comes out in the open to sing. 

 Like the thrush he prefers the forest, but he sings 

 a very different kind of a song. Listen : here are 

 the notes : 



7* 



Scarlet Tanager. 



Mark how much they resemble the robin's. But again 

 we may hear another tanager sing, and we think his 

 soft warblings are nearer like those of the Baltimore 



