Conspicuously Red of any Shade 



not contain this tropical-looking beauty— the redbird par excel- 

 lence, the sweetest singer of the family. Is there a more beauti- 

 ful sight in all nature than a grove of orange trees laden with 

 fruit, starred with their delicious blossoms, and with flocks of 

 redbirds disporting themselves among the dark, glossy leaves ? 

 Pine and oak woods are also favorite resorts, especially at the 

 north, where the bird nowadays forsakes the orchards to hide his 

 beauty, if he can, unharmed by the rifle that only rarely is offered 

 so shining a mark. He shows the scarlet tanager's preference for 

 tree-tops, where his musical voice, calling " Chicky-tucky-tuk," 

 alone betrays his presence in the woods. The Southern farmers 

 declare that he is an infallible weather prophet, his ''WET, WET, 

 WET," being the certain indication of rain — another absurd saw, 

 for the call-note is by no means confined to the rainy season. 



The yellowish-olive mate, whose quiet colors betray no nest 

 secrets, collects twigs and grasses for the cradle to be saddled on 

 the end of some horizontal branch, though in this work the male 

 sometimes cautiously takes an insignificant part. After her three 

 or four eggs are laid she sits upon them for nearly two weeks, 

 being only rarely and stealthily visited by her mate with some 

 choice grub, blossom, or berry in his beak. But how cheerfully 

 his fife-like whistle rings out during the temporary exile ! Then 

 his song is at its best. Later in the summer he has an aggravat- 

 ing way of joining in the chorus of other birds' songs, by which 

 the pleasant individuality of his own voice is lost. 



A nest of these tanagers, observed not far from New York 

 City, was commenced the last week of May on the extreme edge 

 of a hickory limb in an open wood ; four eggs were laid on the 

 fourth of June, and twelve days later the tiny fledglings, that all 

 look like their mother in the early stages of their existence, burst 

 from the greenish-white, speckled shells. In less than a month ' 

 the young birds were able to fly quite well and collect their food. 



217 



