216 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Pyranga rubra 8w. & RICH. F. B. A. ii, 1831. 273. AUD. Synop. 1839, 136; B. Am. iii. 1841. 

 226, pi. 209.-BAIRD.B. N. Am. 1858,30; Cat. N. Am. B. 1869, No. 220.-COUES, Key, 1872, 

 111; Check List, 1873, No. 107; 2d ed. 1882, No. 154; B. N. W. 1874,82; B. Col. Val. 1878. 

 350. B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874,435, pi. 20, figs. 7, 8. RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 

 1881, No. 161. 

 Piranga erythromelas VIEILL. Nouv. Diet. & Hist. Nat. xxviii, 1819, 293. 



HAB. Eastern United States, breeding chiefly northward; north to Lake Winnipeg, in 

 the interior; wintering in Cuba, Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the whole of Middle America 

 (except western Mexico), and south to Trinidad and Ecuador. 



"Sp. CHAE. Bill shorter than the head. Second quill longest; first and third a little 

 shorter. Tail moderately forked. Male. Whole head and body continuous, pure, intense 

 scarlet, the feathers white beneath the surface, and grayish at the roots. Wings and tail, 

 with the scapulars, uniform intense black ; the middle-coverts sometimes partly red, 

 forming an interrupted band. Lining of wing white. A blackish tinge along sides of the 

 rump, concealed by wings. Bill pea-green; iris brown; tarsi and toes dull blue. Female. 

 Olive-green above, yellowish beneath. Wing and tail-feathers brown, edged with oliva- 

 ceous. Length, 7. 40; wing, 4. 00; tail, 3.00." 



"At least three years seem to be required for the assumption of 

 the perfect plumage of the male. In the first year the young male 

 is like the female, but has black wings and tail : in the fall red 

 feathers begin to make their appearance, and the following spring 

 the red predominates in patches." (Hist. N. Am, B.) 



By far the most showy of our birds, the adult male of the Scarlet 

 Tanager is a most brilliant creature when seen among the bright 

 green foliage, which so effectively complements the glowing scarlet 

 and velvety black of his plumage. 



In the southern half of Illinois, the Scarlet Tanager, while not 

 an uncommon summer resident in some localities, is decidedly a 

 less abundant bird than his plainer but more musical relative, the 

 Summer Redbird. He is also much more retired in his habits, 

 preferring the high timber of the bottom lands to the upland woods, 

 and therefore not brought so much in contact with the abodes of men. 



The song of this bird resembles somewhat that of the Eobin in 

 its modulation, but is shriller in tone, more hurried, and enunciated 

 with a peculiar wavering style. The ordinary note, uttered by both 

 sexes, sounds like chip-a-raree, uttered with considerable emphasis 

 when the nest or young are disturbed. 



The nest of the Scarlet Tanager is placed near the end of a hor- 

 izontal branch of a tree, usually an oak or hickory, twenty feet or 

 more from the ground, and is a very thin and shallow, though by 

 no means frail, structure, composed of wiry grasses, fine roots, etc., 

 so loosely interwoven that the eggs may frequently be seen through 

 the interstices from below. The eggs are three to five in number, 

 light greenish blue, speckled, chiefly round the larger end, with 

 various shades of brown. 



