TANAGERS. 



137 



primaries, of which the first is spurious, and a notch in the 

 bill. They are also crested, and in full plumage have curious 

 wax-like appendages to certain quills, "and sometimes the 

 tail-feathers " (pi. 1, figs. 10 and 11). They show an affinity 

 to the Flycatchers, in their eminent skill in fly-catching, K as 

 occasionally displayed, and in their want of musical powers, 

 for, though absurdly called " chatterers," they are notably 

 silent birds. Moreover, " their tarsus is not strictly oscine." 

 They are gregarious. The common Cedar-bird may be taken 

 as a type. 



I. PIRANGA. 



A. ERYTHEOMELAS. Scarlet Tanager. Though locally 

 distributed, a generally common summer resident in southern 

 New England.* 



Fig. 5. Scarlet Tanager. (|) 



a. About 7J inches long. $ , scarlet ; winsrs and tail 

 black. 5 olive green above ; below, (greenish) yellow. 



&. The nest is loosely constructed of straws, twigs, etc., 

 and is usually placed from ten to thirty feet above the ground, 



55 It is to be remembered, however, 

 that the birds of many families are very 

 skillful in preying" upon insects in the 

 air, scarcely less so than the true Fly- 

 catchers. 



* A summer resident of the whole 

 of New England, very common in most 



localities sotith of the northern border 

 of Massachusetts, but found only spar- 

 inglv and to some extent locallv in the 

 coniferous forests of northern Maine, 

 New Hampshire, and Vermont. W. 

 B. 



