PYRANGA yESTIVA : SUMMER TANAGER. 179 



other small soft fruits, as well as upon beetles and large 

 wincred insects and their larvae. The dress of the male 

 is not perfected until after the first year. 



SUMMER TANAGER. 

 Pyranga estiva (Z.) V. 



Chars. Male, adult : Rich rosy or vermilion red (not scarlet), in- 

 cluding the wings and tail ; the unexposed portions of the feath- 

 ers of these members dusky. Female : Dull brownish-olive ; 

 below, dull bufFy-yellow. Young like the female ; when changing, 

 showing confused characters of both sexes, red and greenish being 

 mixed in irregular patches. The female resembles that sex of 

 P. rubra, but may be distinguished by the dull brownish or buffy 

 tinge, the greenish and yellowish of rubra being much clearer; 

 the bill and feet, also, are pale, not dark. The size is rather 

 greater. 



So rare a bird is this in New England, that it 

 can hardly be accounted more than a straggler. It 

 has not been observed beyond Massachusetts. It was 

 reported from Connecticut by Linsley in 1843 (Am. 

 Jour. Sci., xliv, p. 261). Two were captured in Lynn, 

 Mass., by Mr. S. Jillson, after a storm in April, 1852, 

 as recorded by Putnam (Pr. Essex Inst., i, 1856, p. 

 224). One was seen at Sherborne, Mass., by Mr. 

 A. L. Babcock ; and another at Amherst, Mass., in 

 August, 1867. (See the Massachusetts instances given 

 by Allen, Am. Nat., iii, 1869, p. 578, and iv, 1870, 

 p. 56.) In June, 1866, a specimen was taken at 

 Swampscott, by Mr. N. Vickary, as first recorded by 

 Allen (Bull. Essex Inst., x, 1878, p. 15). Among 

 other late notices are those of Purdie (Bull. Nutt. 

 Club, ii, 1877, p. 27), who speaks of a male taken 



