SCARLET TANAGER 487 



Not till I walked towards them did they move and give their cus- 

 tomary call note of alarm. The nest held four fresh eggs." 



Voice. — The tanager's song is rather pleasing, although the bird 

 is by no means a great artist. The song resembles the robin's in 

 form, that is it consists of short phrases alternating in pitch, continu- 

 ing on indefinitely, usually with no concluding phrase, as in the rose- 

 breasted grosbeak's song, which satisfies the ear in a musical sense. 

 However, in rare instances the tanager does introduce a final phrase, 

 rounding out the song into a finished sentence. Such a song, from my 

 notes of 1913, might be written, querit, queer, queery, querit, queer. 



The quality of the tanager's voice, with a hoarse burr running 

 through it, gives individuality to the song, making it stand out dis- 

 tinctively among the songs of North American birds. The syllables 

 Weer weera, pronounced with a faint hum to suggest the huskiness of 

 the tanager's voice, call the song to mind. The phrases, repeated 

 half a dozen times or more with little range in pitch, are spoken or 

 hummed rather than whistled; although they carry well, they are 

 not overloud and at a little distance might not be noticed if one were 

 unfamiliar with the song. 



Aretas A. Saunders (MS.) sends to A. C. Bent this analysis: "The 

 song of the scarlet tanager consists of a series of from 3 to 9 notes and 

 slurs, with short pauses between them. The notes and slurs are 

 usually of equal length, and also the pauses between them, so that the 

 song has an even rhythm, and one that is quite similar to that of the 

 robin. The quality is best described as a harsh whistle. The pitch 

 varies from C" to D"", and songs range from IK to 3K tones each. 

 Their length varies from 1% to 3 seconds." The frequently uttered 

 note commonly written Chip-churr (Chick-kurr, I think, is better) may 

 consist of two or three chips before the churr, according to Saunders, 

 and Eugene P. Bicknell (1884) says: "Speaking of this well know 

 [sic] chip-chir, Mr. Fred T. Jenks, of Providence, R. I., has called my 

 attention to what is undoubtedly a clear instance of geographical 

 variation in utterance. Mr. Jenks writes that he has observed that 

 in 'Illinois and Indiana it has three notes, chip-chirree' ." William 

 Brewster (1886a), speaking of North Carolina, says: "The song is 

 normal, the call note chip-churr, as in New England, not chip-prairie, 

 as in Southern Illinois." 



A. A. Saunders (MS.) says that during courtship "the female has a 

 call in a somewhat husky whistle. It is a single note, sounding like 

 whee or an upward slur, like puwee. Young birds that have recently 

 left the nest sometimes go astray or get temporarily separated from 

 the parents. In such cases, when they get hungry, they call, over 

 and over, a note that is distinctive of the species, but not, so far as I 

 am aware, ever used by adult birds. This call is a husky whistle of 



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