250 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



of soft lichens, caterpillars' silk, and down from the ferns. 

 It is deeply hollowed, and lined with thin strips of grape-vine 

 bark and cottony substances, and sometimes a few hairs or 

 fibrous roots. Nuttall, in describing the nest, says " the 

 lining is neither soft nor downy;" but Wilson and Audubon 

 both assert to the contrary. I have examined a great num- 

 ber of the nests, and have found them to agree with the 

 foregoing description. The eggs are usually four in number. 

 Their color is a beautiful creamy-white, which is covered, 

 more or less thickly, with spots of reddish-brown and lilac. 

 Average dimensions of eggs, about .63 by .50 inch. 



Perhaps the best description I can give of the habits of 

 this bird is to say that they are a combination of those 

 of the Flycatchers and Warblers ; for, like the former; it 

 pursues flying insects in the air, and seizes them with a 

 loud snapping of the bill, and, like the latter, gleans indus- 

 triously for them among the foliage and branches of trees. 

 The note of the Red Start is a shrill cheweea, which is 

 uttered at intervals of perhaps a half or whole minute. 



I have not noticed that it prefers any particular locality ; 

 but it seems to frequent the woods, pastures, and orchards 

 in equal abundance : and I have known of a pair building, 

 and rearing a brood, in a garden, within five rods of a house. 



About the 15th of September, the Red Start leaves for 

 the South ; and, after the 20th of that month, none are to 

 be seen in New England. 



Sub-Family TANAGRIN^E. The Tanagers. 

 PYRANGA, VIEILLOT. 



Pyranga, VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept., I. (1807) IV. 75., Analyse (1816), 32. 

 Sclater, Pr. Zool. Soc. (1856), 123. 



Bill somewhat straight; sub-conical, cylindrical, notched at tip; culmen moder- 

 ately curved ; commissure with a median acute lobe ; wings elongated ; the four first 

 primaries about equal; tail moderate, slightly forked. Colors of the male chiefly 

 scarlet, of the female yellowish. 



