AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
135 
ger, 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 Sparrow, as he calls it, 
has given it a hanging crest, owing no doubt to the loose, dis- 
ordered state of 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 origi- 
nally related 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, u that when 
travellers talk of the warble of tbe Cardinal they mean the 
Scarlet Cardinal, for the other Cardinal is of the genus of 
the Grosbeaks, consequently a silent bird. ” This silent 
bii'd, however, has been declared by an eminent English 
naturalist, to be almost equal to their own nightingale! 
The count also quotes the following passage from Charle- 
voix 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 Cardinal Grosbeak is not found in any 
great numbers north of Maryland. The latter, therefore, 
it is highly probable, was the bird meant by Charlevoix, 
and not the Scarlet Tanager. Buffon also quotes an ex- 
tract of a letter from Cuba, which, if tbe circumstance it 
relates be true, is a singular proof of the estimation in 
which the Spaniards hold the Cardinal Grosbeak. “ On 
Wednesday arrived at the port of Havana, a bark from 
Florida, loaded with Cardinal birds, skins, and fruit. The 
Spaniards bought the Cardinal birds at so high a price as 
ten dollars apiece; and notwithstanding the public distress, 
spent on them the sum of 18,000 dollars!” 
With a few facts more, I shall conclude the history of 
the Scarlet Tanager. When you approach the nest, the 
male keeps cautiously at a distance, as if fearful of being 
seen; while the female hovers around in the greatest agi- 
tation and distress. When the young leave the nest, the 
male parent takes a most active part in feeding and attend- 
ing them, and is then altogether indifferent of concealment. 
Passing through an orchard one morning, I caught one 
of these young birds that had but lately left the nest. I 
carried it with me about half a mile, to show it to my 
friend, Mr. William Bartram; and having procured a cage, 
hung it up on one of the large pine trees in the Bo- 
tanic garden, within a few feet of the nest of an Orchard 
Oriole, which also contained young; hoping that the charity 
or tenderness of the Orioles, would induce them to supply 
the cravings of the stranger. But charity with them, as 
with too many of the human race, began and ended at 
home. The poor orphan was altogether neglected, not- 
withstanding its plaintive cries; and, as it refused to be 
fed by me, I was about to return it back to the place where 
I found it; when, towards the afternoon, a Scarlet Tanager, 
no doubt its own parent, was seen fluttering round the cage, 
endeavouring to get in. Finding this impracticable he 
flew off, and soon returned with food in his bill; and con- 
tinued to feed it till after sunset, taking up his lodgings 
on the higher branches of the same tree. In the morning, 
almost as soon as day broke, he was again seen most ac- 
tively engaged in the same affectionate manner; and, not- 
withstanding the insolence of the Orioles, continued his 
benevolent offices the whole day, roosting at night as be- 
fore. On the third or fourth day, he appeared extremely 
solicitous for the liberation of his charge, using every ex- 
pression of distressful anxiety, and every call and invita- 
tion that nature had put in his power for him to come out. 
This was too much for the feelings of my venerable friend; 
he procured a ladder, and mounting to the spot where the 
bird was suspended, opened the cage, took out the prisoner, 
and restored him to liberty and to his parent, who with 
notes of great exultation accompanied his flight to the 
woods. The happiness of my good friend was scarcely 
less complete, and showed itself in his benevolent counte- 
nance; and I could not refrain saying to myself — If such 
sweet sensations can be derived from a simple Qircum- 
stance of this kind, how exquisite, how unspeakably rap- 
turous must the delight of those individuals have been, 
who have rescued their fellow beings from death, chains, 
and imprisonment, and restored them to the arms of their 
friends and relations! Surely in such godlike actions 
virtue is its own most abundant reward. — lb. 
A METHOD OF FORCING FRUIT TREES TO 
BEAR. 
With a sharp knife make a cut in the bark of the 
branch, which you mean to force to bear, and not far from 
the place where it is connected with the stem ; or if it be 
a small branch, or shoot, near to where it is joined to the 
larger bough: the cut is to go round the branch, or to en- 
circle it, and to penetrate to the wood. A quarter of an 
inch from this cut, you make a second cut, like the first, 
round the branch, so that by both encircling the branch, 
you have marked a ring upon the branch, a quarter of an 
inch broad between the two cuts. The bark between 
