500 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



wings.' The wing coverts are edged with olive-green strongly tinged 

 with yellow or orange according to individual vitality. The orbital 

 ring is usually chrome-yellow or paler." 



The first nuptial plumage in the young male is, he says — 



Acquired by a partial prenuptial moult which involves portions of the bod}' 

 plumage, wing coverts, tertiaries and the tail. There is an unusual amount of 

 individual variation in the extent of this moult accentuated by the contrast of 

 the new vermilion or poppy-red feathers among the old greenish or yellow ones. 

 Some birds become entirely red except for the old greenish primaries, their coverts 

 and the secondaries and there are all sorts of intermediates ranging down to those 

 with a mere sprinkling of red feathers. The central quills only of the tail may be 

 renewed, sometimes only part of the tertiaries and wing coverts, but in every 

 case it is easy to see that the process of moult has stopped at points where the 

 checking of its normal advance would produce the varied plumages found. 



The prenuptial molt takes place in winter or early spring, beginning 

 in February or earlier, while the birds are in their winter quarters. 



The first and subsequent postnuptial molts occur in August and are 

 complete; at this molt young males assume the fully red plumage, 

 which is never again replaced by an olive-green body plumage, as in 

 the scarlet tanager. 



The adult nuptial plumage is the result of wear, which is very slight. 

 Adults have only one complete annual molt in August. The molts 

 of the female are similar to those of the male, but young females are 

 often yellower than young males in their first winter, and old females 

 sometimes show a mixture of red feathers in the body plumage, or 

 tinges of red in the wings. 



A. F. Skutch tells me that he has seen young males with red in their 

 plumage as early as December in Costa Rica. 



Food.— Arthur H. Howell (1932) writes: "The food habits of this 

 bird have not been thoroughly studied. Many observers have re- 

 ported its habit of visiting beehives and destroying the bees. It is 

 known to feed also on beetles, wasps, tomato worms, and spiders, 

 and on certain small wild fruits, such as blackberries and whortle- 

 berries. Examination in the Biological Survey of the stomachs of 

 6 birds taken in Alabama and of 2 taken in Florida showed that the 

 bird has a decided preference for Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, etc.), 

 these insects being present in 7 of the 8 stomachs in proportions 

 varying from 30 to 98 per cent of the total contents. Other insects 

 taken were dragon flies and click beetles." 



A. F. Skutch writes to me: "Summer tanagers are expert flycatchers 

 and capture many insects on the wing. As in the United States, so in 

 Central America, they sometimes arouse the ire of apiculturalists by 

 catching bees, and are shot for this offense; but careful study might 

 reveal that it is only the drones that they attack. They are also fond 

 of the soft, white larvae of wasps, and in the Tropics find an immense 



