SCARLET TANAGER. 



608. Piranga erythromelas . IV-z inches. 



Male, scarlet and black; female, greenish yellow and 

 blackish. 



These beautiful birds are found in open woods, but 

 they often come out in fields, parks, orchards and 

 sometimes in yards when feeding; one of the prettiest 

 sights that I ever saw was of about a dozen of these 

 birds tripping along the furrows of a ploughed field, 

 where they were feeding on insects. Besides berries 

 and seeds, they live upon quantities of insects, fre- 

 quently catching them on the wing in true Flycatcher 

 style. 



Song. — Resembling that of the Kobin, but harsher, 

 less varied and higher pitched. Call, a sharp chip or 

 "chip-churr." 



Nest. — Loosely made of twigs and rootlets, on lower 

 branches of trees; eggs four, pale bluish green, spotted 

 with brown (.95 x .65). 



Range. — Breeds in the northern parts of the U. S. 

 from the Atlantic to the Plains; winters in the tropics, 

 whence it arrivos about May 15. 



