BIRDS OP BRILLIANT FEATHERS. 149 



But I imagine it may not be so easy to distin- 

 guish the musical indigo bird from several other 

 chirping singers, so far as " style " is concerned, and 

 I would advise those who are unfamiliar with the 

 song sparrow's and the yellowbird's notes to make 

 a careful comparison of the music of all three birds 

 as I have represented it here. There are two or 

 three comparisons which I can make that should aid 

 one considerably in the attempt to distinguish these 

 songs apart. The indigo bird's voice is spriglitly, 

 thin, irregular, and lisping, and the song lasts longer 

 than that of the song sparrow. The latter frequently 

 sings a tune three and a half seconds long, composed 

 of three notes, a trill, and three strong final notes. * 

 The indigo bird never does this. We can not divide 

 his song into distinct parts any more than we can 

 that of a canary ; it is all one rapid medley. The 

 yellowbird's notes can always be heard toward sun- 

 set, when the happy little fellow is on the wing, dip- 

 ping along in his billowy lines of flight. This song is 

 entirely his own, and the indigo bird never sings a 

 single passage which remotely resembles it. 



Another remarkably brilliant bird is the scarlet 

 tanager {Piranga erythromelas) ; he is about seven 

 inches long, and is vivid scarlet, all except his wings 



* See the first niusie I have given of this sparrow in a forego- 

 ing chapter. 



