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SUMMER RED-BIRD 



and often obscure colors, as if Providence meant to favor their per- 

 sonal concealment, and consequently that of their nest and young 

 from the depredations of birds of prey; while among the latter, 

 such as Eagles, Owls, Hawks, &c. which are under no such appre- 

 hension, the females are uniformly covered with richer colored 

 plumage than the males. 



The Summer Red-bird delights in a flat sandy country cover- 

 ed with wood, and interspersed with pine trees, and is consequent- 

 ly more numerous towards the shores of the Atlantic than in the 

 interior. In both Carolinas, and in Georgia and Florida, they are 

 in great plenty. In Mexico some of them are probably resident, 

 or at least winter there; as many other of our summer visitants 

 are known to do. In the northern states they are very rare ; and 

 I do not know that they have been found either in Upper or Lower 

 Canada. Du Pratz, in his History of Louisiana, has related some 

 particulars of this bird, which have been repeated by almost every 

 subsequent writer on the subject, viz. that " it inhabits the woods 

 on the Mississippi, and collects against winter a vast magazine of 

 maize, which it carefully conceals with dry leaves, leaving only a 

 small hole for entrance; and is so jealous of it, as never to quit its 

 neighbourhood except to drink." It is probable, tho I cannot cor- 

 roborate the fact, that individuals of this species may winter near 

 the Mississippi; but that in a climate so moderate, and where such 

 an exuberance of fruits, seeds and berries are to be found, even 

 during winter, this or any other bird should take so much pains in 

 hoarding a vast quantity of Indian corn, and attach itself so closely 

 to it, is rather apocryphal. The same writer, vol. ii, p. 24, relates 

 similar particulars of the Cardinal Grosbeak (Loxia Cardinalis), 

 which, tho it winters in Pennsylvania, where the climate is much 

 more severe, and where the length and rigors of that season would 

 require a far larger magazine, and be a three-fold greater stimulus 

 to hoarding, yet has no such habit here. Besides I have never 

 found a single grain of Indian corn in the stomach of the Summer 



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