SUMMER RED-BIRD. 469 



SUMMER RED-BIRD. 



{Tanagra astiva, Gm. Wilson, i, p. 95. pi. "6. fig. 3. [male],%and 

 fig. 4. [female]. Audubon, pi. 44. Orn. Biog. i. p. 232. Phil. 

 Museum, No. 6134.) 



Sp. Charact. — Vermilion-red; inner vanes and tips of the quills 

 tinged with brown ; the tail even. — Female, young, and autum- 

 nal male, yellow-olive, below brownish-yellow; the moulting 

 young spotted with buff. 



This brilliant and transient resident, like the former 

 species, passes the greatest part of the year in tropical 

 America, from whence in his gaudy nuptial suit, prepar- 

 ed by nature for the occasion, he presents himself with his 

 humble mate in the Southern States in the latter end of 

 April or by the first of May. In Pennsylvania they are 

 but rarely seen, though in the warm and sandy barren 

 forests of New Jersey several pairs may usually be ob- 

 served in the course of every season ; farther north they 

 are unknown, ceding those regions apparently to the 

 scarlet species. They are not confined to any particular 

 soil, though often met with in bushy, barren tracts, and 

 are consequently common even to the west of the Missis- 

 sippi in Louisiana and the territory of Arkansas, as well 

 as Mexico ; they also breed near the banks of that river 

 around Natchez. 



The nest is built in the woods on the low horizontal 

 branch of a tree, often in an evergreen 10 or 12 feet from 

 the ground ; like that of the former, it is slightly put to- 

 gether, and made of broken, tough, and fibrous weeds, 

 and lined with fine grass. The eggs are from 3 to 5, 

 and of a light blue color, according to Wilson. Both 

 parents assist in incubation, and the young are fledged 

 by the middle or latter end of June. They only raise a 

 single brood in the season ; and towards the middle or 

 close of August, the whole party disappear on their way 

 40 



