136 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



the nest, which was frailly composed of straw. During my 

 ascent of the tree, without disturbing the branch in which the 

 nest was placed, I observed the parents several times returning 

 to the tree, and, upon my arrival at a point, from which I could 

 look into the nest, I found it empty. A careful search dis- 

 closed no pieces of broken shell or traces of the yolk on the 

 lower branches, or on the ground, directly below. The eggs 

 were undoubtedly conveyed to a place of safety, but whether 

 ever returned or successfully hatched, I do not know. 



(d). The Scarlet Tanagers have an agreeable song or 

 whistle, which reminds one of the Robin's music, or the finer 

 and delicious music of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but it dif- 

 fers from both in having a certain harshness. Their ordinary 

 note is a pensively uttered chip-churr, which is often introduced 

 so as to interrupt their warble. Such other notes as they may 

 have, I do not now recall. 



(B) ^ESTIVA. Summer Red Bird. 



(Of very rare occurrence in Massachusetts, being for the 

 most part an inhabitant of the Southern States.) 



(a). 7fj 8 inches long. $ , vermilion. $, like <? rubra 

 (A) , but duller, and with brownish rather than greenish shades 

 (Coues). 



(&). "The nest is usually built on one of the lower limbs of 

 a post-oak, or in a pine sapling, at a height of from six to 

 twenty feet above the ground." 37 The eggs average about -90 

 X '65 of an inch, and are of "a bright light shade of emerald- 

 green, spotted, marbled, dotted and blotched with various 

 shades of lilac, brownish-purple, and dark brown." (Dr. 

 Brewer.) 



(c) . The Summer Red Birds have been taken in Massachu- 

 setts but a very few times, though they have wandered so far 

 to the North as Nova Scotia. Wilson describes their habits 

 as follows, and says of this species that "its manners * * * 

 partake very much of those of the Flycatcher ; for I have fre- 



87 This statement is made on the authority of the late Dr. Gerhardt. 



