498 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



is accomplished through the month of April, reaching the northern 

 limits of the breeding range early in May. 



Around the middle of April, 1929, a remarkable visitation of sum- 

 mer tanagers reached New England, blown northward by a severe 

 storm, of which John B. May (Forbush, 1929) says: "This storm 

 first appeared in Texas April 13, travelled east rather slowly to 

 South Carolina, then swung northeast along the coast, reaching its 

 greatest intensity between New Jersey and Massachusetts on April 16." 



Audubon (1841) says: "Whilst migrating, they rise high above the 

 trees, and pursue their journeys only during the day, diving towards 

 dusk into the thickest parts of the foliage of tall trees, from which 

 their usual unmusical but well-known notes of chicky-chucky-chuck 

 are heard, after the light of day has disappeared." 



Nesting. — F. M. Weston contributes the following account of the 

 nesting habits of this species in northwestern Florida, near Pensacola: 

 "During the nesting season, the summer tanager deserts the city and 

 the coastal strip of woods and retires to the pine areas a few miles 

 inland. Here they select as nest sites the dogwoods (Cornus florida) 

 and the scrub oaks scattered through the pine lands. I suspect, too, 

 that they nest in the pine trees that are still young enough to bear 

 branches within 10 or 15 feet of the ground. The nests are hard to 

 find and I have but little data to offer. This, first, because the birds 

 are far from common and, secondly, because the flimsy, inconspicuous 

 nests can be concealed by a single leaf of such large-foliaged scrub 

 oaks as Quercus catesbaei and Q. marilandica, two species especially 

 favored as nest sites. Nests containing eggs have been found from 

 the last week of May until the middle of June, and I have no data 

 that would indicate a second nesting. Both sexes feed the young 

 birds, but I do not know if the male parent assists with incubation 

 or nest building." 



Farther south in Florida, according to Arthur H. Howell (1932): 

 "Summer Tanagers live in open woodland, preferring the pines, but 

 are found to some extent in oak hammocks. Their nests are placed 

 usually on a horizontal limb of a pine or oak, 12 to 35 feet above the 

 ground, and are very loosely constructed of weed stems and Spanish 

 moss, and lined with fine grasses." Charles R. Stockard (1905) says 

 that, in Mississippi: "These birds seem to have a foolish fancy for 

 building their nests on horizontal branches that overhang road- 

 ways. * * * They build a nest home of smooth contour and always 

 lined with a golden yellow grass straw or a similar greenish straw 

 giving to the concavity of the nest a very characteristic appearance; 

 the common 'pepper grass' stems make a favorite material for the 

 outer layer." 



A nest in the U. S. National Museum collection measures 4 inches 



