SUMMER RED BIRD. gy 



full red. This was about the middle of May, In the month 

 of August, of the same year, being in the woods with the gun, 

 I perceived a bird of very singular plumage, and having never 

 before met with such an oddity, instantly gave chase to it. 

 It appeared to me, at a small distance, to be sprinkled all over 

 with red, green, and yellow. After a great deal of difficulty — 

 for the bird had taken notice of my eagerness, and had become 

 extremely shy — I succeeded in bringing it down ; and found 

 it to be a young bird of the same species with the one I had 

 killed in the preceding May, but less advanced to its fixed 

 colours ; the wings entirely of a greenish yellow, and the rest 

 of the plumage spotted, in the most irregular manner, with 

 red, yellow, brown, and greenish. This is the variegated 

 tanager, referred to in the synonyms prefixed to this article. 

 Having, since that time, seen them in all their stages of colour, 

 during their residence here, I have the more satisfaction in 

 assuring the reader that the whole four species mentioned by 

 Dr Latham are one and the same. The two figures in our 

 plate represent the male and female in their complete plumage, 

 and of their exact size. 



The food of these birds consists of various kinds of bugs 

 and large black beetles. In several instances, I have found 

 the stomach entirely filled with the broken remains of humble 

 bees. During the season of whortleberries, they seem to 

 subsist almost entirely on these berries ; but, in the early part 

 of the season, on insects of the above description. In Pennsyl- 

 vania, they are a rare species, having myself sometimes passed 

 a whole summer without seeing one of them ; while in New 

 Jersey, even within half a mile of the shore, opposite the 

 city of Philadelphia, they may generally be found during the 

 season. 



The note of the male is a strong and sonorous whistle, 

 resembling a loose trill or shake on the notes of a fife, fre- 

 quently repeated; that of the female is rather a kind of 

 chattering, approaching nearly to the rapid pronunciation of 

 chicky-tucky-tuck, chicky-tucky-tuck, when she sees any person 



VOL. I. G 



