SUMMER RED BIRD. 
97 
two of the secondaries, yellowish green, the rest of the plumage 
a 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 
VOL. i. 
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