8o 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On horizontal limb of low 

 saplings, generally low but sometimes 40 feet up, in 

 retired woodlands ; a flat, loosely put together struc- 

 ture of stems, roots, and bark strips, lined with rootlets 

 and fine inner bark; some com.posed almost entirely of 

 brownish rootlets. Eggs : 3 to 5, generally 4, greenish- 

 blue, speckled and blotched with chestnut : occasionally 

 the eggs are very faintly and finely spotted, altogether 

 lacking the usual bold markings. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States and more 

 southern British provinces, north to New Brunswick, 

 Nova Scotia, northern Ontario, Manitoba; breeding 

 southward at least to Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, etc., 

 (in Allegheny Mountains to South Carolina) ; in winter 

 migrating southward to West Indies and through Mex- 

 ico, Central America, and northern South America 

 to Bolivia and central Peru ; west, casually to eastern 

 Colorado and Wyoming ; accidental in Bermudas. 



The sudden appearance in deep woods of this 

 remarkable bird, its ahnost dazzhngly brilliant 

 red and black plumage outlined sharply against 

 the dark green of summer foliage, is nothing less 

 than startling to an observer whose eye is sen- 

 sitive to color contrasts. And if the observer, 



it were in doubt abotit something. But perhaps 

 it realizes that it doesn't have to perform or ctit 

 capers in order to attract attention, which in- 

 deed is the case. On the other hand, it is only 

 fair to add that the bird not only does compara- 

 tively little posing in plain sight, but spends much 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



SCARLET TANAGER {\ nat. size) 

 This gaudy fellow might easily be mistaken for a wanderer from the tropic 



instead of being intent tipon the length of a 

 bird's bill in relation to that of its hind claw, and 

 the precise number of primary, secondary, and 

 tertiary wing-feathers it possesses, is interested 

 in bird personalities, as expressed in various 

 ways, he is likely to count as a veritable red- 

 letter day the one which brought him a glimpse 

 of this gaudy reminder of what Natin"e can do 

 when she is in the mood to produce striking 

 effects. 



To speak candidly, this Tanager is usually a 

 rather stupid and lifeless bird in its action. It 

 moves abotit with an air of being dull-witted or 

 dazed or, perhaps, bored. ./Mso it has a char- 

 _^cteristic trick of peering, with its head cocked 

 first to one side and then to the other, as though 



of his time in the tree-tops where he gives the 

 observer only exasperatingly brief glimpses of 

 his radiant apparel. From such places he 

 sounds most frequently his characteristic and em- 

 phatic call-note, which has been variously trans- 

 literated as cliip-churr, chic-burr, and chip-bang, 

 and also delivers his complete song. This is a 

 carol not unlike that of the Robin, and is de- 

 scribed by Mr. Burroughs as a " proud, gor- 

 geous strain," while Mr. Dawson reduces it to the 

 syllables, tcrr-qitc-c-c-ry, zc-crvc. pccs-croo, be- 

 zoorl Mr. Mathews remarks the peculiarity that 

 " every note is strongly double-toned or burred," 

 as though the bird were a little hoarse, and stip- 

 plies this illuminating analysis of the song : 

 " There is a lazy, drowsy, dozy buzz to this beau- 



