482 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



weed stems and grasses. It is generally placed well out from the 

 trunk of a tree on a horizontal branch, usually not far from 20 feet 

 above the ground. A. C. Bent (MS.) describes a nest containing 

 four eggs as being "15 feet up and 8 feet out, near the end of a hori- 

 zontal limb of a hemlock, beside a path in woods of mixed trees; it 

 was made of very fine twigs, coarse grass, and weed stems, and lined 

 with fine grass." 



W. G. F. Harris (MS.) found in Rehoboth, Mass., a nest "about 

 15 feet from the ground against the trunk of a small beech tree. A 

 very loose and comparatively flat nest of long rootlets (many of 

 them over 12 inches long), it was lined with finer rootlets and dry 

 weed stems. Its outside measurements, in millimeters, were height 

 64, and diameter 115; the cup had a depth of 40 and a diameter of 

 66 millimeters." 



A. D. DuBois (MS.) speaks of a nest "about 45 feet from the ground 

 in an ash tree which stood in a pasture just outside the wood. The 

 nest was placed well out from the trunk, at forks of a branch which 

 extended upward at an angle of 45 degrees." F. W. Rapp (MS.) 

 reports to A. C. Bent his discovery in Michigan of what he "con- 

 siders as colony nesting." He says: "Between the latter part of 

 May and the middle of June 1897, I found nine nests of the tanager 

 in a area of about three acres, in the midst of a 40-acre tract of oak 

 near Vicksburg. These nests were loosely but firmly constructed 

 of small sticks and twigs and could be looked through from below." 

 Eight of these nests were in oaks (white, black and scarlet) and one 

 was in a maple tree, ranging from 25 to 32 feet above the ground. 

 Bent tells me that he found a nest of the scarlet tanager in an apple 

 tree in an orchard, and another on a branch of a small red cedar in 

 an old hillside pasture. 



Eggs. — The scarlet tanager lays from three to five eggs to a set, 

 usually four. They are usually ovate in shape, sometimes tending 

 to short ovate, and are only moderately glossy. The ground color 

 is "bluish glaucous," "deep bluish glaucous," "light Niagara green," 

 "pale Niagara green," or "etain blue." The irregular spots or 

 blotches are of "auburn," "chestnut," "bay," and "argus brown." 

 There is considerable variation in the amount of the markings; the 

 eggs maj 7 be minutely speckled or boldly spotted. These spots may 

 be evenly distributed over the entire egg, but there is usually a con- 

 centration toward the large end, where often a wreath is formed; 

 and occasionally they are confluent, forming a solid cap at the large 

 end. The undertones of "deep brownish drab" are not visible on 

 all eggs, but are best seen on the more boldly marked types. In 

 most cases the markings are distinct, but occasionally they are 



