TANAGRID.E — TIIIO TAXAGERS. 437 



Tliis species is extremely susceptible to cold, and in late and innisually 

 chilly seasons lai'i^e niualjci's olieu ptuisli in their more northern liaunts, as 

 Massachusetts and Northern New York. 



The nests of the Scarlet Tanager are built late in May, or early in June, 

 on the liorizontal brancli of a forest tree, usually on the edge of a wood, but 

 occasionally in an orchard. They are usually ^•ery nearly fiat, five or six 

 inches in diameter, aud aljoul two in heiglit, with a depression of only about 

 half an inch. They are of somewliat irregular shape, or not quite symmet- 

 rically circular. Their base is somewhat loosely constructed of coarse stems 

 of vegetables, strips of bark, aud the rootlets of wooded plants. Uiion this 

 is wrouglit, with more compactness and neatness, a framework, within \\hicli 

 is the lining, of long slender tibrous roots, interspersed with wliicli are slender 

 stems of plants and a few strips of fine inner liark. 



Mr. Xuttall describes a nest examined by him as composed of rigid stalks 

 of weeds aud slender hr-twigs tied togi^ther with narrow strips of Apocy- 

 niuii and ])ea-vine runners, and lined witli slrnder wiry stalks of tiie Jlclian- 

 thcmum, the whole so thinly }jluited as readily to admit the light through 

 the interstices. 



The eggs, four or five in number, vary in leiigtli from an inch t(j .!.)(), and 

 have an average Lrea'dth of .65. Their ground-color varies from a well- 

 marked sliade of greenish-blue, to a dull white with hardly the least tinge 

 of blue. The spots vary in size, are more or less confluent, and are chiefly 

 of a reddish or rufous brown, iiitermiugled with a few spots of a brownish 

 and obscure purple. 



Pyranga ludoviciana, I'.uxap. 



LOUISIANA TANAGEE. 



Tanagra ludovirutno, Wll,.s(ix, Am. Oni. Ill, ISll, 27, pi. xx, f. 1.— BoN. Obs. 1826, 

 9.5. — Attd. Oin. Biog. IV, 1838, 385; V, 1839, 90, pi. cwliv, ccce. Tawigra 

 (Pyranga) huhvieUma, Boxap. Syn. 1828, 105. — Nuttat.i,, Man. I, 1832, 471. 

 Pyranga ludoviciana. Rich. List, 1837. — Bonap. Li.st, 1838. —Aud. Syn. 1839, 137. 

 — In. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 211, pi. ecx. — Sclatep., I'r. Zool. Soc. 1856, 125.— 

 Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 145. Pyrantja erythropis, Vieii.i.ot, Nouv. Diut. XXVIII, 

 1819, 291. (" Tanugra cuhmibiana, .Jaud. cil. Wilson, 1, 317," according to Sclater, 

 but I cannot find such name.) 



Sp. ('fiah. Bill .-^liorter than the head. Tail slightly forkccl : Tir-st three quills nearly 

 equal. Male. Yellow; the middle of the back, the wings, and the tail black. Head and 

 neck all ro\ind strongly tinged with red ; least so on the sides. A band of yellow across 

 the middle coverts, and of yellowish-white across the greater ones; the tertials more or 

 less edged with whiti.sh. Female. Olive-green above, yellowish beneath; the feathers of 

 the interscapular region dusky, margined with olive. The wings and tail rather dark 

 brown, the former with the same marks as the male. Length, 7.2.5; wing, .3.G0; tail, 2.85. 



Hab. Western portions of United States, from the ilissouri Plains to the Pacific; north 

 to Fort Liard, south to Cape St. Lucas. Oaxaca (Scl.) ; Guatemala (iScl.; ; Orizaba (Scl.) ; 

 Vera Cruz (winter, ScMrcnRASx). 



Z ^ '"^' 



