SCARLET TANAGER. 
229 
^'1 the account which Buffon gives of the scarlet 
. '’*gcr, and cardinal grosbeak, there appears to be very 
|j?^t confusion, and many mistakes ; to explain which, 
uecessary to observe, that Mr Edwards, in his hgure 
scarlet tanager, or scarlet sparrow, as he calls it, 
given it a hanging crest, owing, no doubt, to the 
disordered state of the plumage of the stuffed or 
skin from whicli he m.ade his drawing. Buffim has 
^tcrwards confounded the two together, by applying 
stories, originally related of the cardinal grosbeak, 
scai'let tanager ; and the following he gravely 
as his reason for so doing: “We may presume,” 
he, “ that when travellers talk of the warble of the 
^‘■'linal, they mean the scarlet cardinal, for the other 
j filial is of the genus of the grosbeaks, consequently 
^ ’“•lent bird.”* This silent bird, hovvever, has been 
''blared by an eminent English naturalist, to be almost 
^'•al to their own nightingale ! The Count also quotes 
V ® following passage from Charlevoix to prove the same 
S’ff. which, if his translator has done him justice, 
J'dently proves the reverse. “ It is scarcely more 
a hundred leagues,” says this traveller, “ south of 
j^*|>ada, that the cardiiml begins to ho seen. Their song 
j '*'ieet, their plumage beautiful, and their head wears 
®'’est.” But the scarlet tanager is found even in 
as well as an hundred leagues to the south, 
. ‘‘de the cardinal grosbeak is not found in any great 
jd^hers north of Maryland. The latter, therefore, it 
. J'iglily probable, was the bird meant by Charlevoix, 
not the scarlet tanager. Buffon also quotes an 
li'act of a letter from Cuba, which, if the circumstance 
j •'elates be true, is a singular proof of the estimation 
“ n'^***®d the Spaniards hold the cardinal grosbeak. 
W L ^'^fidnesday arrived at the port of Havannah, a 
ff . fi’oni Florida, loaded with cardinal birds, skins, and 
The Spaniards bought the cardinal birds at so 
tk^” a price as ten dollars a-picce ; and, notwithstanding 
a ? public distress, spent on them the sum of 18,000 
"liars I ” .|, 
liars ! ’ 
Burrox, vol. i 
, p. 209, 
f Gmeui C-veeki, 
