with good or evil spirits, Christian or 

 pagan saints or martyrs, animate nature 

 or some of the phenomena of nature. To 

 the Indian the hkeness of the flower of 

 the Turtle-head to the head of a reptile 

 not only gave it its name, but at the 

 same time invested the plant with cer- 

 tain sacred associations by reason of the 

 fact that not only among the Indians of 

 North America, but among the unciv- 

 ilized peoples in all parts of the world 



the tortoise has been considered sacred 

 and highly symbolical. 



Though commonly found in low alti- 

 tudes, it is found in moist places in the 

 Adirondacks, even at a height of three 

 thousand feet. 



This plant is not rare, and with its up- 

 right stem and its rather large and clus- 

 tered white or slightly rose-colored flow- 

 ers it is a dignified and beautiful feature 

 of any floral community. 



THE POCKET BIRD. 



About the middle of May a gaily col- 

 ored bird from his winter home in neo- 

 tropical regions visits the United States. 

 His body is bright scarlet, his slightly 

 forked tail and his wings intense black 

 and his bill sea green. The ornitholo- 

 gist names him the scarlet tanager — tan- 

 ager being a Brazilian word applied to 

 this class of birds. But he is also some- 

 times called the ''pocket bird," because 

 his jetty wings when closed upon his red 

 sides are fancifully thought to resemble 

 pockets. He is also known as the black- 

 winged redbird. It takes three years for 

 his gaudy plumage to become perfect. 

 His mate is clad in green, so that she is 

 easily concealed when on her nest amid 

 the leaves of the swamp oak or some 

 other favorite nesting tree. The nest is 

 shallow and loosely woven, so that the 

 eggs may be seen from beneath. But it 

 is strong enough to hold the young birds 

 securely until fledged. The eggs, three to 

 five in number, are greenish-blue, spotted 

 with brown and purple. The young birds 

 are a clownish looking set in parti-col- 

 ored robes of scarlet yellow and olive 

 green. The song of the tanager some- 

 what resembles that of the robin in mod- 

 ulation ; but the quality of the song is so 

 soft and wavering that there are observ- 

 ers who call him a lazy bird, too lazy to 

 sing. But others declare that it is worth 

 while to take a long tramp in order to 

 listen to his beautiful notes. Mr. Ab- 

 bott calls him a "gayly colored blunder" 

 without peculiarity of voice or manner. 

 His song has been translated "Pshaw — 



wait — wait — wait for me." His call note 

 is ''Chirp-chirr." 



There are some three hundred and 

 eighty species of tanagers, and they are 

 peculiar to America. They are perching 

 birds and have usually conical bills, tri- 

 angular at the base, with cutting edges 

 near the tip of the upper mandible : this 

 distinguishes them from the finches, to 

 which they are closely allied. It is said 

 that this genus is remarkable in having 

 no gizzard. 



The tanagers feed chiefly on ripe fruits 

 and insects. 



The organist tanager of San Domin- 

 go is purplish black, with forehead, 

 rump and underparts yellow, and a cap 

 of blue. Its tones are said to be ex- 

 tremely rich and full. But if our scarlet 

 tanager is not so fine a musician as his 

 cousin, if he has no such organ-like 

 tones, yet we could ill spare the blaze of 

 his scarlet coat and the sight of his black 

 pockets, as he sits on the hedge very 

 early in the morning — the rising sun em- 

 phasizing his brilliancy. Then he is an 

 early riser I am sure, as I have seen him 

 before four o'clock in the morning. But 

 he has always been silent at that time as 

 if not wijde awake yet. In manners he 

 is a most unobtrusive bird. He is rightly 

 entitled to some of the plunder of the 

 fruit trees. For there is no doubt that we 

 owe all kinds of fruit to the agency of 

 birds as seed distributors. Besides, the 

 tanager is very destructive to larvae that 

 injure fruit. 



Belle Paxson Drury. 



