SCARLET TANAGER 



45 



cipal differences are these. The plumage of the Brazilian is al- 

 most black at bottom^ very deep scarlet at the surface, and of an 

 orange tint between; ours is ash colored at bottom, white in the 

 middle, and bright scarlet at top. The tail of ours is forked, that 

 of the other cuneiform or rounded. The bill of our species is more 

 inflated, and of a greenish yellow color — the other's is black above, 

 and whitish below towards the base. The whole plumage of the 

 southern species is of a coarser, stiffer quality, particularly on the 

 head. The wings and tail, in both, are black. 



In the account which Buffon gives of the Scarlet Tanager, and 

 Cardinal Grosbeak, there appears to be very great confusion, and 

 many mistakes ; to explain which it is necessary to observe, that 

 Mr. Edwards in his figure of the Scarlet Tanager, or Scarlet Spar- 

 row as he calls it, has given it a hanging crest, owing no doubt to 

 the loose disordered state of the plumage of the stuffed or dried 

 skin from which he made his drawing. Buffon has afterwards con- 

 founded the two together by applying many stories originally re- 

 lated of the Cardinal Grosbeak, to the Scarlet Tanager; and the 

 following he gravely gives as his reason for so doing. " We may 

 "presume,'^ says he, "that when travellers talk of the warble of the 

 " Cardinal they mean the Scarlet Cardinal, for the other Cardinal is 

 " of the genus of the Grosbeaks, consequently a silent bird."^ This 

 silent bird, however, has been declared by an eminent English na- 

 turalist, to be almost equal to their own Nightingale! The Count 

 also quotes the following passage from Charlevoix to prove the 

 same point, which if his translator has done him justice, evidently 

 proves the reverse. " It is scarcely more than a hundred leagues," 

 says this traveller ''south of Canada, that the Cardinal begins to 

 " be seen. Their song is sweet, their plumage beautiful, and their 

 " head wears a crest." But the Scarlet Tanager is found even in 

 Canada, as well as an hundred leagues to the south while the Car- 



VOL. II. 



* BufFon, vol. IV, p. 209. 



M 



