BIRDS OP BRILLIANT FEATHERS. 151 



oriole, except that the music of the latter is not soft. 

 It is very plain in any event that he delivers his notes 

 in groups of twos and threes, and this is quite charac- 

 teristic of the oriole. 



rj rj rfl c; r. 



The scarlet tanager is, on the whole, rather a 

 rare bird, I think, for in my own experience he 

 makes a short season of it, and leaves for the 

 South long before the other birds do. In the Pemi- 

 gewasset Valley he arrives in late May and disap- 

 pears as early, I should think, as the end of Septem- 

 ber. I never heard him sing after the middle of 

 June. Wilson says his food is principally winged 

 insects, such as wasps, hornets, bees, and so forth. 

 His taste is not confined to insects, however, as he 

 relishes the berries which grow beside the road — • 

 especially huckleberries. I have also noticed that he 

 likes the bird cherry {Prunus Pennsylvanica). 



A rather rare brilliantly feathered bird we may 

 possibly see on the highway in midsummer, called 

 the cardinal grosbeak (jOardinalis cardinalis). He 

 is bright, light red of a pure tone, closely allied to 

 scai-let ; the bird in captivity I have been sur- 

 prised to see is greatly faded in color. We may 

 know the grosbeak by his large bill, his striking crest. 



