PLUMAGE OF BIRDS. 57 



and reptiles from the sight of their foes. Thus, the toad 

 is colored like the soil of the garden, while the colors of 

 the common frog that lives among the green rushes and 

 aquatic mosses 'are green, and the tree-frog is of a mottled 

 gray, like the outer bark of old trees. Grasshoppers are 

 generally greenish ; but there is a species found among 

 the gray lichens on our rocky hills which is the color of 

 the surface of these rocks. 



Among the singing-birds of this country which are 

 remarkable for their brilliant colors are the golden oriole, 

 the scarlet tanager, and the American goldfinch. All 

 these species build their nests in trees, and seldom run 

 on the ground. The goldfinch feeds upon the seeds of 

 compound flowers, which are mostly yellow. His plu- 

 mage of gold and olive allows him to escape the sight 

 of an enemy while picking seeds from the disk of a sun- 

 flower or from a cluster of goldenrods. 



But why are the females plainly dressed and the males 

 alone adorned with brilliant colors ? It may be answered, 

 that, as the female performs the duties of incubation, if 

 she were brightly colored like the male, she would be 

 more readily descried by a bird of prey while sitting on 

 her nest. The male, on the contrary, while hunting 

 among the blossoms and foliage of trees for his insect 

 food, is not so readily distinguished from the flowers, for 

 in temperate latitudes the breeding season is the time 

 when the trees are in blossom. After the young are 

 reared and the flowers have faded, several species dis- 

 pense with their brilliant .colors and assume the plain 

 hues of the female. 



We must consider, however, that the beautiful colors 

 of the plumage of the male birds serve to render them 

 more conspicuous objects of attraction to the females. 

 Hence, in the early part of the year, just before the time 

 of courtship arrives, Nature has provided that the plumage 



