T A N A G E R. 



777 



They have been made & genus under the name 

 Tachyphonun, or "swift sounding," probably from the 

 rapidity with which they utter their chirping' note ; 

 but there is not much use or necessity for the name. 



Desmaresfs Tanagcr (T. Desmaresti). This is a 

 very small Brazilian species, being only four inches 

 in the total length. The upper parts are mottled 

 with black and yellow ; the front and middle of the 

 fore neck black ; the top of the head greenish-blue ; 

 the sides of the head and all the under parts yellow ; 

 and the] quills and tail-feathers brown, bordered with 

 yellow ; the bill brown, and the feet reddish. 



Finch Tanager ( T. fringilloides}. A Brazilian spe- 

 cies, five inches in length. Upper parts greyish-ash ; 

 the head with two tufts of red feathers ; the sides of 

 the neck, the quills, and the tail-feathers, very deep 

 black ; the under parts white, and the bill and feet 

 blackish. It is doubtful whether this species should 

 be arranged in the present subdivision, and the same 

 remark may be applied to the next species. 



Black Tanager (T. nigcrrima*). A native of Guiana, 

 measuring seven inches in length. The whole plu- 

 mage is black, with the exception of the lesser 

 coverts of the wings, which are white. The female is 

 red, darker on the upper part than on the under. 

 There are some other species which have been 

 classed in the same genus with these, as separated 

 from the tanagers. In the case of this genus or 

 family of birds there is room for a conflict between 

 the colourists and the structurists, and certainly the 

 colourists have most to say upon the subject, as the 

 birds differ far more in colour than they do in 

 structure. 



CARDINAL TANAGERS (so called from their red 

 colours). These have the bill conical, a little vaulted, 

 and with a projecting tooth upon each side. Some 

 of them are found in the southern parts of North 

 America, principally in the valley of the Mississippi, 

 and respecting them we have advantages which we 

 have not in the case of the others, as their habits were 

 observed and described by Wilson. They are birds 

 of passage, and migrate to considerable distances 

 northward in the summer. 



The Scarlet Tanagcr (T. rubra}. This bird makes 

 its appearance in the middle states of America about 

 May, and finds its way as far to the north as Canada. 



Le Tangara du Canada. 



It is a bird of the wild woods rather than of the cul- 

 tivated places, though it visits the orchards, and 

 sometimes builds in them. The usual note of the 



1 bird is short and jarring, and appears to come from a 

 much greater distance than it really does, so that 

 hearing the bird is no very certain guide to a sight of 

 it. Occasionally, however, the male utters a more 

 mellow note, though even that is not properly a song. 

 The food of the bird is hornets, wasps, wild bees, and 

 other large insects, and toward the end of the season 

 the berries of some of the vacciniums, and other small 

 wild fruits. Wilson puts in a plea for the bird in the 

 following passage : '' Among all the birds that 

 inhabit our woods, there is none that strikes the eye 

 of a stranger, or even of a native, with so much 

 brilliancy as this. Seen among the green leaves, 

 with the light falling strongly on his plumage, he 

 really appears beautiful. If he has little melody in 

 his notes, he has nothing in them to disgust. His 

 manners are modest, easy, and inoffensive. He com- 

 mits no depredations on the property of the husband- 

 man, but rather benefits him, by the daily destruction 

 in spring of many noxious insects ; and, when winter 

 approaches, he is no plundering dependent, but 

 seeks, in a distant country, for that sustenance which 

 the severity of the season denies to his industry in 

 this. He is a striking ornament to our rural scenery, 

 and none of the meanest of our rural songsters. 

 Such being the true traits of his character, we shall 

 always with pleasure welcome this beautiful inoffensive 

 stranger to our orchards, groves, and forests." 



The nest is built about the middle of May. It is 

 placed on a horizontal branch of a tree, simple in its 

 structure, being composed .of dry vegetable fibres, 

 without any elaborate lining with softer matters. 

 The eggs are three in number, of a dull blue colour, 

 spotted with purple brown. The birds have only one 

 brood during their sojourn in the United States ; 

 but, as they depart as early as August, it is not un- 

 likely that they may have an autumnal brood in the 

 more tropical country to which they retire. 



The male, when arrived at his full size and colour, 

 is six inches and a half in length, and ten and a half 

 in the stretch of the wings, being much better winged 

 than those tropical species which are not migratory. 

 The clothing plumage is of a most brilliant scarlet, 

 and the quills and tail-feathers black, but sometimes 

 with a little white on the tips ; the margins of the 

 inner webs of (he quills are also generally white or 

 whitish ; the tail is much forked, which agrees with 

 the habit of the bird in snatching insects on the 

 wing ; the bill is large and strong, and, like that of 

 the rest of the section, tumid ; it is of a yellowish 

 horn colour, but subject to changes with the seasons. 

 The moult commences about the 1st of August, the 

 scarlet feathers being partially displaced by greenish- 

 yellow ones, which gives the bird a mottled appear- 

 ance, and the whole change of the body-plumage has 

 not taken place when the bird depaits for the south. 

 Where they retire, and when they regain their scarlet 

 livery, are not known, but they have it perfect when 

 they return to the nerth. This, however, is true of 

 the mature birds only ; for the young of the preceding 

 year have some green mottlings when they first 

 come, though these soon disappear, and they shine 

 out in all the splendour of their parents. 



The manners of these birds are fully as attractive 

 as their plumage, gay and beautiful as that is. Both 

 birds are very vigilant in watching and protecting 

 the nest, and also in feeding the young, even after 

 they are considerably grown. The following anec- 

 dote, given by Wilson, is too characteristic for being 

 omitted in noticing so numerous a genus of birds, of 



