42 EVERYDAY BIRDS 



contrast of black and white. To look at her, 

 you might take her for a large sparrow. 



The rose-color of the male, it should be said, 

 is not confined to the patch on the breast, but is 

 found also on the lining of the wings, where it 

 is mostly unnoticed by the world, but where his 

 mate, of course, cannot help admiring it as he 

 flutters about her ; for it is certain that female 

 birds have a good eye for color, and believe that 

 fine feathers help, at least, to make fine birds. 

 The shade is of the brightest and most exquisite, 

 and the total effect of the male's plumage — jet 

 black, pure white, and vivid rose-red — is quite 

 beyond praise. 



The birds, happily, are not shy, and prefer 

 a fairly open or broken country rather than a 

 dense wood. Last season one sang day after 

 day directly under my windows, and undoubt- 

 edly had a mate and a nest somewhere close by. 

 The male, it should be added, has the very 

 pretty though dangerous-seeming habit of sing- 

 ing as he sits upon the eggs. 



