178 TANAGRID^E : TANAGERS. 



and leave New England early in the fall ; commonly 

 during the first or second week in September. While 

 with us they frequent orchards, gardens and parks, 

 as well as mixed woods, rather preferring such as 

 have abundant undergrowth of saplings, shrubs, and 

 climbers. The female is a quiet, unobtrusive bird, 

 whose colors assimilate with those of the foliage ; being 

 hence much less exposed to observation than her gay 

 mate, who, with all his thoughtfulness for the safety 

 of his family, can scarcely " hide his light " at the crit- 

 ical periods of incubation and breeding. The nest 

 will oftenest be found in such low thick woods as we 

 commonly style "groves," or in the skirting of still 

 more tangled thickets, not seldom also in an orchard, 

 on the horizontal limb of some low tree or sapling. It 

 is a loosely fashioned structure, shallow for its width, 

 though often of irregular shape, built of bark-strips, 

 rootlets, twigs, and leaves, more neatly and compactly 

 lined with finer materials of similar kinds. The eggs 

 are three to five in number, and may usually be recog- 

 nized at a glance, if the style of nest and its location 

 be also taken into consideration. They are pale dull 

 greenish-blue, more or less profusely and heavily 

 spotted with reddish-brown and lilac. These mark- 

 ings may be dull in some cases, but the general im- 

 pression given is that of a fully spotted egg. The 

 variation in size and shape is great, specimens ranging 

 from 0.90 to over i.oo in length, by about 0.65 in 

 breadth. Like many other gaily-dressed things, the 

 Tanager's personal appearance is more attractive than 

 what he has to say ; his song being to no remarkable 

 effect, and his ordinary call-notes decidedly unmelo- 

 dious. The birds feed considerably upon berries and 



