THE SCARLET TANAGER 
In South America, the Tanagers form a large family, but they 
send to the more northern of our Eastern States only one represent- 
ative, the well-known Scarlet Tanager. A sight of this splendid bird 
properly, therefore, suggests the tropics. The Tanager is considered 
a rare bird, but it can always be found in suitable situations, and 
in certain parts of the country is really a common bird. Oak groves 
are the favorite resort of the bird, and since it does not often 
visit our dooryards, even in migration, and since we, as a people, 
do not often visit oak groves, the sight of a Tanager remains for 
most people a rare and exhilarating experience. The bird, too, is 
of a rather sluggish disposition, so that even if we visit the spot 
where a pair are nesting, they display only a rather languid curiosity. 
The call-note used by both sexes is well worth learning, for by its 
means our attention is often attracted to a pair which we should 
otherwise overlook; it consists of two syllables, resembling the 
syllables ¢schif, ¢tschurr, uttered in a hoarse voice. The song of 
the male is such as a Robin with a cold might produce. 
Either because the Tanager breeds generally at some distance 
from man, or because he considers that his brilliant coloring will 
make up for other deficiencies, the bird has never, as far as I know, 
done much to win the affection of bird lovers. They have enthu- 
siastic praise for his coat, but little to say of his manners. A story 
which Wilson tells of a male Tanager is, however, a worthy exception 
to this statement. Wilson found a young bird which had fallen out 
of the nest and, having brought it home, put it into a cage with 
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