486 IT. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



berry, bayberry, sumac, blackberry, elderberry, and blueberry being 

 most frequently taken." 



Francis H. Allen (MS.) writes: "I saw a pair of scarlet tanagers 

 in a rum cherry, feeding on the ripe fruit and catching flies on the 

 wing." Francis M. Weston (MS.), speaking of Pensacola, Fla., says: 

 "During their brief, enforced stays in this region, the favorite food of 

 the scarlet tanager is the ripe berries of the red mulberry (Morus rubra). 

 Because of the dense foliage of these trees, it is not possible to make 

 an actual count of the birds in their branches, but an observer at some 

 point of vantage, watching the tanagers come and go to and from a 

 large mulberry in full fruit, would not hesitate to guess the presence 

 of 40 or 50 birds at one time." 



Walter B. Barrows (1912) states that Professor Aughley records 

 the capture of a scarlet tanager "which had 37 locusts in its craw and 

 nothing else that I could identify." 



Behavior. — As we watch a scarlet tanager at close range, we note 

 its quiet, unhurried manner as it moves leisurely about its favorite 

 woodland of oak trees. But that it can move rapidly on occasion is 

 shown by E. H. Forbush (1929) who remarks: "Mr. A. C. Bagg says 

 that he saw one drop a red berry from its bill and recover it before it 

 had fallen eight inches." 



As a rule, however, the bird gives us the impression of a placid, 

 indolent, somewhat self-conscious personality, almost lethargic, paying 

 little attention to the life about it. The tanager, a bird seemingly of 

 neutral qualities, compares unfavorably in the popular mind with the 

 more striking, buoyant species in its neighborhood, and this prejudice 

 perhaps explains why so little has been written about it in the litera- 

 ture. Indeed, Frank Bolles (1894) speaks disparagingly of the bird, 

 saying: "Mr. and Mrs. Tanager, he in scarlet coat and she in yellow 

 satin, are best measured by contrast with the refined warblers. Their 

 voices are loud, their manners brusque, their house without taste or 

 real comfort. They have no associates, no friends. They never seem 

 at ease, or interested in the misfortunes or joys of those beneath 

 them." 



Lyle Miller, of Youngstown, Ohio, writes to us: "June 6, 1926 — As 

 I was hurrying through a woods to my car, my attention was directed 

 towards a male tanager. He was sitting in a low shrub, quietty 

 watching me. I stopped and eyed him. It was then I noticed his 

 mate a short distance away, also in a frozen attitude. I stood quietly 

 watching the birds for two or three minutes. Neither one moved 

 although both were quite close to me. Glancing cautiously around, 

 I spied the nest. It was only inches from my head, 5 feet up in a 

 dogwood tree. The strange behaviour of the birds was explained. 



