98 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



in his journal: "I found to-day in an oak the nest of a 

 tanager. It is the first that I have ever seen." 



In the first series of numbers, 13 was an adult male 

 summer tanager shot near Greensboro, June 9, 1876, and 

 later presented to the Smithsonian Institution. Under 

 this entry is written : "Stomach contained debris of in- 

 sects, was stained internally with the juice of blackber- 

 ries, and contained some seeds of blackberries. 



''Found here in summer and spring. Disappears when 

 its food becomes scarce. 



" 'Pyranga rubra' and 'Pyranga aestiva' are the same 

 bird. There is quite a variety of plumage in the tan- 

 ager; some (the males) being red and green, others red 

 .having the wings and tail slightly shaded with black." 

 t(The variation in the plumage of the summer tanager 

 is one of age and season and occurs only in the male. The 

 female is constantly orange olive-green above, with yel- 

 lowish orange underparts.) 



Among the old journal sheets are three or four pages 

 of "Oological Register," the firs.t entry of which follows 

 in toto: 



"No. 1 Nest of Pyranga rubra; 26 May, 1876. This 

 nest was found in an oak tree on the Greensboro and 

 Millwood road IV2 miles southwest of Greensboro, and 

 very near 'Contentment.' 'Clutch' of four eggs. 



"The nest was built on an oak limb within a few feet 

 of the ground, and overhanging the side of the road. 

 In walking under the limb I frightened the bird, and 

 suspecting that there must be a nest, upon search I found 

 it concealed by the dense foliage; and but for her having 

 flown, the parent bird might have kept the secret, hatched 

 her brood and departed undisturbed with her off-spring 

 to her winter home. 



"This bird, called also Tanagra aestiva, affects the oak 

 as a building place. He appears in our country early in 

 the spring as soon as his insect food becomes abundant 

 and disappears in the fall with frost. The male may 

 often be seen perched high upon a dead limb of his oak 

 home, where he pours forth his song, not a very melod- 

 ious one. His notes are rather feeble, but quite sweet. 



