210 DICKCISSEL. 



Some thirty or forty years ago the Dickcissel, or 

 Black-throated Bunting, was a locally common bird in 



Dickcissel * ne Middle Atlantic States. Now it is 



Spiza americana rarely found east of the Alleghanies, 



Plate LVI. anc j even m the Mississippi Valley its 

 range is becoming restricted, and it is of irregular distri- 

 bution. 



It migrates in large flocks, the males in the spring 

 being several days in advance of the females. About 

 May 1 it reaches the latitude of Chicago, and by the mid- 

 dle of the month is mated. The nest is placed on the 

 ground, or in low trees or bushes ; the eggs, four or five 

 in number, are pale blue. 



In the work previously quoted from, Mr. Ridgway 

 writes of this species : " While some other birds are 

 equally numerous, there are few that announce their 

 presence as persistently as this species. All day long, 

 in spring and summer, the males, sometimes to the num- 

 ber of a dozen or more for each meadow of considerable 

 extent, perch upon the summits of tall weed stalks or 

 fence-stakes, at short intervals, crying out : See, see 

 Dick, Dick Cissel, Cissel ; therefore ' Dick Cissel ' is well 

 known to every farmer's boy as well as to all who visit 

 the country during the season of clover blossoms and wild 

 roses, when ' Dame Nature ' is in her most joyous mood." 



TANAGERS. (FAMILY TANAGRID^E.) 



The Tanagers, numbering some three hundred and 

 fifty species, are found only in America. Their home 

 is in the tropics, where they are among the most abun- 

 dant of birds. But two species reach the eastern United 

 States, the Summer Redbird of the South and our Scar- 

 let Tanager, both worthy representatives of a group 

 of birds which in brilliancy of color rival even the Hum- 



