A }r ERIC AN ORNITHOLOGY. 



•31 



with a deep, "chip, churr-r-r," He seems quite excited now and contin- 

 ually utters this new scolding note. Perhaps we can find the cause of his 

 anxiety. Just scan closely the lower limbs of the surrounding oal^s, and 

 about midway of the branch on one of them we will see an ordinary 

 appearing nest composed of twigs and grasses. This is the Tanager's 

 home, and he always stands ready to guard his yellowish green colored 

 mate and the four spotted blue eggs that she is sitting on. 1 have seen 

 him repeatedly carry her choice worms or caterpillars while she was on the 

 nest. One of the prettiest sights I have seen in connection with bird life, 

 was of six or eight male Tanagers feeding on a freshly ploughed field. 

 These Tanagers, together with several Blackburnian and Magnolia Warblers 

 that were in the field at the same time, in company with many other var- 

 ieties, furnished the most color to a bit of plowed land that it has been my 

 fortune to see. 



Photo by Geo. C. Embody. 



Mr. C. E. Hoyle of Millbury, Mass., says that, "after a severe storm he 

 once saw a flock of about four hundred male Tanagers in a field. They 

 were completely exhausted. This was about fifteen years ago." It must 

 have been a grand spectacle, though they were in a pitiable condition and 

 probably many perished. 



At no time during the past twenty years has there been as many Tanag- 

 ers about here as this season. I frequently hear them in the center of the 

 city. 



