INTRODUCTION. XVIl 
BIRDS OF BEAUTY. 
Our North American birds vie in brilliancy and splendor of color with the birds of 
the tropics. The purple glory of the morning, the varied hues of the rainbow, the 
golden and fiery tints of the sunset light, the deep azure of the sky, the sparkling of 
the stars, the lustre of precious stones, the radiant tints and the gorgeous brillancy of 
the flowers seem to reflect from the plumage of our native birds. The southern and 
south-western portion of our country is richer in brilliantly colored birds than the North 
and East. In Arizona, the true home of numerous grotesque succulent plants (members 
of the cactus family), yuccas, and agaves, and, during the larger part of the year 
exceedingly dry and arid, we find a large variety of elegant birds, among them the 
Coppery-tailed Trogon, a true member of a tropical family, the Vermillion Flycatcher, 
the Painted Redstart, the Red-faced Warbler, and several species of Hummingbirds. The 
region of the lower Rio Grande, in Texas, is a veritable paradise for characteristic and 
beautiful birds. There we may observe four species of Orioles, the colors of which gleam 
among the leafage of the forest trees. The rare and exceedingly beautiful Varied Bunt- 
ing, the Green Jay, the Verdin, Sennett’s Warbler, and many others occur there in the 
prairie thickets, in chapparal, and woodland. The mesquit and live oak prairies of 
Texas are the true home of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Its beauty and its graceful 
flight are so singular that it is everywhere known as the ‘‘Texan Bird of Paradise.’’ In 
all the Gulf and South Atlantic States we may observe the familiar and beautiful Car- 
dinal. Its fine scarlet color, its long and effective crest, its coral-red beak, relieved from 
the-scarlet color of the head by a narrow, pure black band, and a black crescent on the 
throat; its lively ways and manners, its loud flute-like song combine to make this one of 
our most valuable birds. Nothing can be more beautiful than the Nonpareil, or Painted 
Bunting, in a dark green hedge of blossoming Cherokee roses, or in a flowering orange tree. 
Dr. Carl Russ, of Berlin, the best authority on cage birds, pronounces the Nonpareil the 
most beautiful of all the Finches. Its shining deep purplish-blue hood, its green back, and 
vermilion under-parts make it a striking object. Its near relative, the deep ultramarine- 
blue Indigo Bunting, of the brier and hazel patches of the central and northern part of our 
country, is a bird of the greatest elegance, and the Lazuli Bunting of the West with its 
turquoise-blue upper parts, its tawny breast, and white wing-patches and under-parts 
is also a very striking denizen of the low shrubbery. In my memory the beautiful Blue 
Grosbeak is always associated with the blackberry thickets, the shrubbery of the fence 
corners and the orchards of the South. It is an elegant bird and a fine songster, lend- 
ding a peculiar charm to its bushy haunts. In the northern and eastern parts of the 
United States we not only find numerous excellent songsters, but also many brilliantly 
colored birds. The Scarlet Tanager in its dress of rich pure scarlet and deep black on 
wings and tail, gleams among the foliage of the forest trees like a flame. Its gaudy 
and richly contrasted colors, and its loud flute-like song convert those parts of the forest 
where the Tanager selects its home, into an ideal spot of poetry and song. Its neat 
relative, the Summer Tanager, belonging to a more southern fauna, is not so richly 
colored, its plumage showing a dull red on the upper parts, and a light vermilion on 
