228 
TANAGRA RUBRA. 
before lie recovers liis scarlet dress, or whether he 
continues of this greenish colour all winter, I am unable 
to say. The iris of the eye is of a cream colour, the 
legs and feet, light blue. The female is green above, 
and yellow below ; the wings and tail, brownish black, 
edged with green. The young birds, during their 
residence here the first season, continue nearly of the 
same colour with the female. In this circumstance we 
again recognize the wise provision of the Deity, in thus 
clothing the female, and the inexperienced young, in a 
garb so favourable for concealment among the foliage ; 
as the weakness of the one, and the frequent visits of 
the other to her nest, would greatly endanger the safety 
of all. That the young males do not receive their red 
plumage until the early part of the succeeding spring, 
I think highly probable, from the circumstance of 
frequently finding their red feathers, at that season, 
intermixed with green ones, and the wings also broadly 
edged with green. These facts render it also probable 
that the old males regularly change their colour, and 
have a summer and winter dress ; but this, farther 
observations must determine. 
There is in the Brazils a bird of the same genus with 
this, and very much resembling it, so much so as to 
have been frequently confounded with it by European 
writers. It is the tanagra JBrazilia of Turton ; and, 
though so like, is yet a very distinct species from the 
present, as I have myself had the opportunity of ascer- 
taining, by examining two verjr perfect specimens from 
Brazil, now in the possession of Mr Peale, and com- 
paring them with this. The principal differences are 
these : The plumage of the Brazilian is almost black at 
bottom, very deep scarlet at the surface, and of an orange 
tint between ; ours is ash coloured 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 colour; 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, particu- 
larly on the head. The wings and tail, in both, are black. 
