SUMMER TANAGER. 309 



SUMMER TANAGER. 



SUMMER RED-BIRD. 

 PiRAXGA RUBRA. 



Char. Male ; rich vermilion, duller above. Female and young ; 

 above, dull olive ; beiow, dull buff. Length about 7/^2 inches. 



Nest. On the edge of an open grove or by a roadside, placed near 

 the extremity of a horizontal limb ; composed of grass, leaves, and vege- 

 table fibre, lined with grass. 



Eggs. 3-4; bright green, sometimes with a tinge of blue, spotted, 

 chiefly near the larger end, with various shades of brown and purple ; 

 0.95 X 0.65. 



This brilliant and transient resident, like the former species, 

 passes the greatest part of the year in tropical America, whence 

 in his gaudy nuptial suit he presents himself with his humble 

 mate in the Southern States in the latter end of April or by 

 the I St of May. In Pennsylvania these birds are but rarely 

 seen, though in the warm and sandy barren forests of New 

 Jersey several pairs may usually be observed in the course of 

 every season ; farther north they are unknown, ceding those 

 regions apparently to the scarlet species. They are not con- 

 fined to any particular soil, though often met with in bushy, 

 barren tracts, and are consequently common even to the west 

 of the Mississippi, 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, 

 pjoth 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 to the South, 

 though the young remain later than the old and more restless 

 birds. 



The note of the male, like that of the Baltimore Bird, is said 

 to be a strong and sonorous whistle, resembling the trill 01 



