THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 169 



white; the bill is only one-seventh of an inch in length, 

 hard and black; legs, dull black; thighs, naked and of the 

 same tint; claws, very sharp; the wings when closed ex- 

 tend an inch and a half beyond the tip of the tail, which 

 is rounded and consists of ten feathers, the shafts of which 

 are produced, forming sharp spines. 



In wild regions the nest is built in a liollow tree, but 

 wherever there are any settlements, in a chimney. It is 

 a basket-like contrivance, made of dead twigs snapped from 

 trees and glued together with the saliva of the bird and 

 similarly fastened to the side of the chimney. The eggs 

 are from four to six in number, white, and four-fifths by 

 one-half inch in size. 



The birds breed and are distributed from Virginia to 

 Canada, coming to New Jersey about the middle of April 

 and leaving for the Southern States shortly after the 

 first of October. 



Its song is a rolling twitter. 



The food consists of insects, invariably caught on the 

 wing. The birds feed more frequently in the late after- 

 noon and early evening. 



Tanaget'^ Scarlet, — Length, seven and one-foui'th 

 inches; extent, twelve inches; bill, half an inch. The 

 plumage of the male is a bright scarlet, excepting the 

 wings and tail, which are a jet black, and the under part 

 of the wing, which is white. In the female the upper 

 parts are an olive green, the wings and tail a dark slate, 

 indistinctly edged with green, and the under parts yellow 

 olive. The feet are of a deep horn color. In autumn 

 and winter the male assumes a dress exactly like that of 

 the female, except that the wings are blacker. The red 

 dress is again acquired in early spring or late winter. 



The nest is flat and apparently carelessly built and gen- 

 erally found near the end of a limb of a pine or oak, the 

 birds very seldom leaving the woods for the purpose of 

 breeding. The nest is made of twigs and stalks and lined 



