THE TANAGERS 1545 



scarlet tanager is a devoted parent, and shows great maternal solicitude for the 

 safety of her young. Even the male of this species has been known to follow one 

 of his brood for half a mile, feeding it with insects through the wires of the cage in 

 which it was confined. The scarlet tanager is the "redbird" of Americans. Un- 

 fortunately, its crimson body, contrasting with wings and tail black as night, makes 

 it only too conspicuous an object, the never-failing bait to the greed of the dealer in 

 bird skins. The adult bird is uniform scarlet above, with the wings and tail pure 

 black. The female is far less exposed to danger than her mate, being clear olive 

 green above, and below greenish yellow, with the wings and tail dusky, glossed 

 with green. Adult males often show abnormal coloring, the body being yellow, 

 orange, or flame color, or red patches appearing on the wings. 



. Another gorgeously-colored representative of the tanagers is the 



r, . . crimson-headed tanager (/*. ludovidana) of the Western United States 

 Tanager an< ^ Mexico. In Southern Colorado Mr. Henshaw found this tanager 

 in small numbers among cotton-woods along the streams, at an eleva- 

 tion of about seven thousand five hundred feet, and much more abundantly among 

 the pines, up to nine thousand feet and even ten thousand feet above sea level. He 

 afterwards observed that it was common in Southern Arizona, and found it lingering 

 along the Gila river, even so late as the middle of October, at which time nearly all 

 these birds had migrated southward. As others had done, he noted the close simi- 

 larity that obtains between this and the scarlet tanager. "It is busy the whole 

 time gleaning from among the pines and spruces the larger beetles and insects which 

 infest them, and generally keeps well up among the higher branches, whence it 

 makes its presence known by occasional bursts of melody." Dr. George Suckley 

 gave the following account of this species: "The beautiful Louisana tanager is 

 quite abundant in certain seasons in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom. In 1854 but a 

 limited number made their appearance, while, on the contrary, in the summer of 

 1856 I could readily have obtained a hundred specimens. I have had frequent 

 opportunities of studying their habits, and have never yet seen them descend to 

 ground as stated by Nuttall, the reverse being the rule (at least at Puget Sound) ; 

 the difficulty being generally to find the bird sufficiently low down on fir-tree 

 branches to allow fine shot to reach it with any degree of certainty. . The 



favorite habitat of the species, in those localities where I have observed it, is among 

 the tall, red fir trees belonging to that magnificent species, the Abies douglasi. 

 They seemingly prefer the edges of the forest, rarely retiring to its depths unless 

 for concealment when alarmed. In early summer, at Fort Steilacoom, they are gen- 

 erally seen during the middle of the day, sunning themselves in the firs, occasionally 

 darting from one of these trees to another, or to some of the neighboring white oaks 

 on the prairies. Later in the season they may be seen very actively flying about in 

 quest of insect food for their young. Both sexes during the breeding season are 

 much less shy; the males during the daytime frequently sitting on some low limb, 

 rendering the scene joyous with their delightful melody. ' ' The eggs of this tanager 

 are green, sparingly dotted with very dark purplish brown. 



One of the loveliest of the family is the white-capped tanager (Stephanophorus 

 kucocephalus) , a summer visitor to Argentine, where, says Mr. W. H. Hudson, "it 



