THE SUMMER TANAGER 265 



several of them, but I have known but one other pair of 

 these birds to bother bees. 



Two summers ago a pair of tanagers made up their 

 minds that the easiest way to make a living was to catch 

 bees from my apiary. There were some sixteen or eighteen 

 strong swarms of bees and as there was only one pair of 

 tanagers making trouble, I decided to let them alone. I 

 feared that when their young were able to fly they might 

 train them to catch bees also, but made up my mind that 

 when this occurred would be time enough to take drastic 

 action. Those birds fed on bees regularly for perhaps two 

 weeks and then began to come less frequently. Within 

 another two weeks, while they were often to be seen flit- 

 ting about in the trees near the apiary, they apparently 

 entirely ceased catching bees. I never learned whether 

 they tired of bees as food or whether they had been catch- 

 ing them in an emergency when other food was scarce. 



The summer tanager is common over most of the 

 Southern part of the United States, and is found in fewer 

 numbers north of the Ohio river as well. They are easily- 

 recognized, as the male is practically red all over and 

 has no crest or topknot. The only other all red bird we 

 have is the cardinal grosbeak, and he not only has a very 

 conspicuous topknot but is larger than the summer 

 tanager. The only red bird that could in any way be 

 mistaken for the bird we are studying is his cousin the 

 scarlet tanager, the most brilliant bird in the American 

 woods. The scarlet tanager is a more fiery red, and has 

 jet black wings and tail. 



The tanagers are slender birds, not much larger than 

 a kingbird or a phoebe. They all feed largely on insects, 

 as can be inferred from my story. The summer tanager 



