T A N A G E R. 



779 



equally conducive to safety. Birds, when moulting, 

 are weak, and unable to escape danger, or defend 

 themselves with the same vigour as when they are in 

 full plumage. Both species moult early, while the 

 snakes, which are the great enemies of the smaller 

 forest birds of North America, are still in their sum- 

 mer activity, and the green colour renders the male 

 less easily seen by them at the time when it is not 

 necessary that he should exhibit himself conspicuously 

 for the purpose of drawing away their attention from 

 the female and the nest. There is no doubt that all 

 colours, and all changes of colour, in birds are con- 

 ducive, in some way or other, to safety, though the 

 subject is so extended and so intricate that we have 

 very little knowledge of it. That it is the male 

 bird which, in all cases where there is a nuptial 

 change, acquires the showy and attractive plumage, 

 is of itself sufficient to establish the truth of the 

 general principle ; and when once this is established, 

 every observed fact becomes an addition to our know- 

 ledge. 



The haunts of the summer red bird are not exactly 

 the same as those of the scarlet tanager. It keeps 

 more to the sandy flats which are covered with wood, 

 and does not migrate so far to the north. Hence it 

 is most abundant in the southern states near 

 the coast, where much of the country is of that 

 character. Its food, though analogous to that of the 

 other species, is not quite the same. Coleoptera, and 

 various wingless insects, are very numerous near the 

 country woods of those places to which the birds 

 resort in greatest numbers during the summer ; and 

 of course the birds feed much upon these, though 

 they do not refuse naked-winged insects when these 

 come in their way. The tanagers, small birds as they 

 are, do not appear to feed on the very smallest of the 

 insect tribes. In the early part of the season, their 

 food, like that of the scarlet species, appears to be 

 almost exclusively animal ; but when the wild berries 

 on the low bushes on the margins of the swamps are 

 ripe, they live in a great measure upon these. The 

 female has a feeble and chattering kind of note without 

 the least music in it ; but, though not a regular song- 

 ster, the male has a clear and trifling sort of whistle. 

 When the beetles fly on the wing, which is the general 

 habit of many of the earth and aquatic ones at a cer- 

 tain season, the red tanagers hawk for them on the 

 wing in the open places, and catch them with no in- 

 considerable adroitness. Altogether, they are birds 

 of no little interest. 



Louisiana Tanager (T. Ludovlciana). This species 

 inhabits farther to the west than [any of those that 

 have been mentioned, and our knowledge of it is far 

 more limited. It is found to the west of the Mis- 

 sissippi only, and rather toward the mountains than 

 in the low and dump plains near the river. Accord- 

 ing to the accounts we have of it, which are not, 

 however, very perfect, it appears to frequent more 

 arid and open places than either of the other two 

 species of the same latitudes. We have thus each of 

 these three migrant tanagers upon a different locality 

 during the time they are in the United States ; the 

 dark red one nearest the sea on the low sandy grounds, 

 which grounds are, however, covered with cedar and 

 other trees wherever there is a sufficiency of moisture. 

 The trees in such places are very much injured by 

 beetles and other insects ; and there is no doubt that 

 the tanagers assist considerably in protecting them. 

 Tiie scarlet tanagers are more in the rich woods near 

 *he great rivers, where there is no doubt that they 



also, from their numbers and their activity, perform, 

 far from an unimportant part, both in wild nature 

 and cultivated the latter because they are birds of 

 more habitable places than the former one. The 

 Louisiana tanagers, again, are found more upon the 

 dry prairies between the western branches of the 

 Mississippi, in places where there are not continuous 

 forests or many tall trees, but abundance of bushes, 

 which afford them cover, and furnish them with in- 

 sects in the summer, and supply abundance of berries 

 in the advanced part of the season. The changes of 

 plumage in this one are not very perfectly known. 

 The wings, the tail, and principal part of the back are 

 stated as being black ; the coverts of the wings being 

 mottled with black and yellow. It is generally sup- 

 posed that the males of these birds are, like the 

 other species which migrate into North America, red 

 in the summer ; but the fact wants to be more fully 

 cleared up. Their habits on the breeding grounds 

 are not quite the same. Both the others build in 

 trees, generally in thick and close trees, though not 

 at any great elevation ; but these western ones build 

 in low bushes, and even in the tufts of tall herbage. 



The common opinion is, that both this western 

 species and the scarlet one pass into Mexico in the 

 winter, and it is by no means unlikely. There has 

 indeed been a Mexican tanager described, very much 

 resembling the scarlet one, which comes into the 

 United States ; that is to say, it is of the same size 

 and colour, and has the tail forked; but there is no 

 information as to whether it is or is not a resident 

 bird, or at what time of the year it appears in Mexico. 

 It was not the policy of the Spaniards, while they had 

 possession of the country, to let us know any thing 

 about even its natural history ; and since the Spanish 

 domination ceased, the state of things, in this respect, 

 has not become better. At the time when Central 

 and South America were first subjected to the iron 

 yoke of Spain, the Mexicans were much lower in 

 the scale of human nature than the Peruvians, and 

 they again, in so far at least as spirit and enterprise 

 were concerned, to the people farther to the south ; 

 and whether that difference be mainly owing to cli- 

 matal causes or not, the same difference remains to 

 the present day. This is proved by the state of the 

 natural history of those places ; for we have D'Az- 

 zara's very valuable information respecting the south, 

 while of Mexico we have nothing of value. We 

 must, however, briefly notice the remaining section 

 of the tanagers. 



SwELLED-BILLED TANAGERS (Rmupkoceles). TheSC 



have the bill conical, with the sides of the lower 

 mandible swelling out toward the base. The species 

 are not numerous, and one which has been described 

 as the Canada tanager appears to be nothing else 

 than the scarlet tanager, which has been already de- 

 scribed as a summer migrant in the United States. 



Jacapa Tanager (T. purpurcus). This is the 

 characteristic bird of the section, and the peculiarity 

 is in the bill. Toward the tip that does not differ 

 much from the bills of the rest of the family ; and the 

 upper mandible and distal portion of the lower one 

 are black; toward the base the sides of the lower 

 mandible are very tumid, and when the bird is alive, 

 those portions are brilliant silvery-white, which, how- 

 ever, like the bloom on all the naked parts of birds, 

 speedily fades after death. The male bird has the 

 upper plumage black, with the exception of the head, 

 throat, and breast, which are purple-red ; the feet are 

 black ; the total length six inches. The female wants 



