Harris—Birds of the Kansas City Region. 307 
Family TANGARIDAE. Tanagers. 
PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS Vieillot. Scarlet Tanager. 
Common summer resident. 
The Scarlet Tanager arrives from April 25th (1895, earliest) 
to the 30th, sometimes not until the last days of the first week in 
May. Nesting begins in early June, and after the postnuptial 
moult, when the young are on the wing, the birds leave for the 
south. The migrating period occupies nearly all of September. 
By the first of October all have left. 
The Tanagers are woods-loving birds and are always found 
in the neighborhood of timber. 
This species has a general distribution over the county and 
breeds in the timbered bottoms as well as in the woods of the 
high country and near the edges of the prairie regions. 
It is common in Swope Park and the upper Blue Valley and 
breeds at several points in the southern suburbs. 
PIRANGA RUBRA RUBRA (Linn.). Summer Tanager. 
Fairly common summer resident. 
This tanager arrives with its congenor in late April or early 
May and leaves during September. It is perhaps not quite as 
common as the Searlet and is never found nesting in the Mis- 
souri bottom lands or other low timber. It prefers higher 
country, particularly dry oak woods, and occasionally builds its 
nest in orchards or other timber close to habitations. 
It is numerous in Swope Park and on the wooded hills and 
ridges of the upper Blue Valley, as well as in many similar 
places in the central and southern parts of the county. 
Family HiruNpDINIDAE. Swallows. 
PROGNE SUBIS sUBIS (Linn.). Purple Martin. 
Very common summer resident. 
The earliest Martins arrive in mid-March (from the 4th to 
' 26th). These are a few impatients males that are sometimes 
forced by late storms to rejoin their less venturesome brothers 
further south. By the last week in March there are always a 
few present and during the following two weeks they are joined 
daily by fresh arrivals. It sometimes happens that late sleet 
storms force the Martins to remain in their roosts for two or 
three successive days when they starve to death. 
