216 SUMMER RED-BIRD. 



succeeded in bringing it down ; and found it to be a young bird 

 of the same species with the one I had killed in the preceding 

 May, but less advanced to its fixed colours; the wings entirely 

 of a greenish yellow, and the rest of the plumage spotted in the 

 most irregular manner, with red, yellow, brown, and greenish. 

 This is the variegated Tanager, referred to in the synonymes 

 prefixed to this article. Having, since that time, seen them in all 

 their stages of colour, during their reidence here, I have the 

 more satisfaction in assuring the reader that the whole four spe- 

 cies mentioned by Dr. Latham are one and the same. The two 

 figures in our plate represent the male and female in their com- 

 plete plumage, and of their exact size. 



The food of these birds consists of various kinds of bugs, and 

 large black beetles. In several instances I have found the sto- 

 mach entirely filled with the broken remains of humble bees. 

 During the season of whortle-berries they seem to subsist al- 

 most entirely on these berries j but in the early part of the sea- 

 son on insects of the above description. In Pennsylvania they 

 are a rare species, having myself sometimes passed a whole sum- 

 mer without seeing one of them ; while in New Jersey, even 

 within half a mile of the shore opposite the city of Philadelphia, 

 they may generally be found during the season. 



The note of the male is a strong and sonorous whistle, resem- 

 bling a loose trill or shake on the notes of a fife, frequently re- 

 peated; that of the female is rather a kind of chattering, approach- 

 ing nearly to the rapid pronunciation of chicky-tucky-tuck y 

 ehicky-tucky-tuck, when she sees any person approaching the 

 neighbourhood of her nest. She is, however, rarely seen, and 

 usually mute, and scarcely to be distinguished from the colour 

 of the foliage at a distance; while the loquacity and brilliant red 

 of the male make him very conspicuous; and when seen among 

 the green leaves, particularly if the light falls strongly on his 

 plumage, he has a most beautiful and elegant appearance. It is 

 worthy of remark, that the females of almost all our splendid 

 feathered birds are drest in plain and often obscure colours, as 

 if Providence meant to favour their personal concealment, and 



