THE CRIMSON-HEADED TANAGER. say 
“Vouisiana,” whose further reaches they were then exploring. But we are 
no longer a part of Louisiana, and we prefer a color-name for one of our 
few brilliant birds of plumage. 
In the hand, the bright yellow of the male Tanager, shading into the 
bright crimson upon the head, would seem to assure a very conspicuous bird, 
but afield it is not so. Seen against the changing green of maples, pines, 
or fir trees, these brilliant colors are lost to any but the most attentive eye. 
A resplendent male does not hesitate to stand quietly upon the end of a 
branch and survey you until his curiosity is fully satished. This quiet atti- 
tude of genteel curiosity seems to be characteristic of all Tanagers. Apart 
from its psychological bearings, sedateness would seem to play an effective 
part in modifying the attractions of bright plumage. 
The male birds precede the dull-colored females by several days, and 
at such times only may be found in companies. One windy afternoon in 
May, the 20th it was, while the Columbia River steamer doddered with its 
freight, I took a turn ashore and explored a tiny oasis of willows which 
lined a neighboring brook. I soon caught the pitic or pititic of newly-arrived 
Tanagers. Judge of my delight upon beholding, not one, but eight of these 
beauties, all old males, as they filed out of a willow clump, where they had 
evidently taken refuge for the day. A week or so later I saw Tanagers at 
home in the meager willow fringes of Crab Creek, in Lincoln County; and 
while we were in camp at Brook Lake in Douglas County, one came out thru 
the sage, hopping and flitting from bush to bush, to bring me friendly 
greetings. It was like meeting a king in a millet field. 
The song of the Louisiana Tanager—pardon the lapse; habit is stronger 
than reason—the song of the Crimson-headed Tanager is an étude in R. 
“Tt is remotely comparable to that of the Robin, but it is more stereotyped in 
form, briefer, and uttered at intervals rather than continuously sustained. 
The notes are sharp-edged and rich in r’s, while the movement of the whole, 
tho deliberate, is varied, and the tone cheerful’’*. I can detect no constant 
difference between the song of the Crimson-headed Tanager and that of the 
Scarlet Tanager (P. erythromelas), save that that of the former is oftener 
prefaced with the call note, thus: Piteric whew, we soor a-ary e-erie witooer. 
This song, however, is less frequently heard than that of the Scarlet Tanager, 
East. Its perfect rendition, moreover, argues the near presence of a demure 
little lady in olive, a person who looks like nobody in particular to our un- 
discriminating gaze, but who exerts a strange fascination over our brilliant 
squire. Young males of the second summer sing hopefully, but they are 
less often successful in love than their ruddier rivals. 
It behooves the Tanager maiden to be exacting in her choice, for all 
a. Applied to P. erythromelas in “The Birds of Ohio,” p. 109, and exactly applicable here. 
