390 SCARLET TANAGER. 
season in the very vicinity of the squatter’s cabin, to the patch of open 
ground near which it constantly resorted to search for coleoptera and 
other insects, forming its slightly-built nest on the lower branch of a 
spreading oak, or on a tree close to the road-side. It is composed ex- 
ternally of a few dry weeds and small twigs, and scantily lined with 
fibrous roots or slender grasses. In Louisiana the eggs are deposited 
by the first of May, about a month later in our central districts, but 
in the State of Maine frequently not until the middle of June. It never 
raises more than one brood in the season; and I have observed that, 
notwithstanding the difference in the temperature of our Southern and 
Northern States, the young are no sooner able to travel than they are at 
once led off, so that families may be seen travelling southward for 
many weeks in succession, and by the end of September all have left 
the United States. The eggs are from three to five, smooth, of a 
dull greenish-blue colour, speckled with reddish-brown and light purple, 
and measure a little more than 7 eighths of an inch in length, by 5 
eighths in breadth. The young are fed with insects and fruits of many 
sorts. At this period the old birds feed also on insects and larve, but 
toward the latter period of their stay they all subsist rae on the 
smaller berries and grapes. 
The parental affection of this bird has been so beautifully and truly 
described by Witson, that, in presenting the following statement re- 
garding it, I must contribute to the gratification of your kindly feel- 
ings as much as of my own. ‘* Passing through an orchard one morn- 
ing, I caught one of the young birds that had but lately left the nest. 
I carried it with me about half a mile, to shew it to my friend, Mr 
Witiiam Bartram ; and, having procured a cage, hung it upon one of 
the large pine trees in the Botanic Garden, within a few feet of the 
nest of an Orchard Oriole, which also contained young; hopeful that 
the charity or tenderness of the Orioles would induce them to supply 
the cravings of the stranger. But charity with them, as with too 
many of the human race, began and ended at home. ‘The poor orphan 
was altogether neglected, notwithstanding its plaintive cries ; and, as 
it refused to be fed by me, I was about to return it back to the place 
where I found it, when, towards the afternoon, a Scarlet Tanager, no 
doubt its own parent, was seen fluttering round the cage, endeavour- 
ing to get in. Finding this impracticable, he flew off, and soon return- 
ed with food in his bill; and continued to feed it till after sunset, tak- 
ing up his lodgings on the higher branches of the same tree. In the 
