Tanagers 817 



for their gorgeous coloration, vying in this respect even with the Humming- 

 birds and Parrots. "But," as Stejneger well says, "while thus highly attrac- 

 tive on account of their coloration, they offer none of these extraordinary orna- 

 ments consisting of marvelously formed tufts, elongation of tail or wing feathers, 

 oddly curved beaks, etc. Nor is there anything characteristic, novel, or wonder- 

 ful in their habits, so far as we know them. Their skill as nest builders is not 

 extraordinary, nor are any of them particularly prominent as songsters." But 

 brilliant and beautiful in plumage many of them certainly are. 



Scarlet and Summer Tanagers. Of the species reaching the United States 

 the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga erythromelas) is the best known, being a rather 

 common summer visitor throughout the eastern states. The male is bright, 

 intense scarlet, the wings and tail black, and the under wing-coverts white, while 

 the female is plain yellowish olive-green above and light yellow below. The 

 other species of eastern North America is the Summer Tanager (P. rubra), the 

 male of which is rosy vermilion-red, brighter below and with the wings hair- 

 brown edged with dull red. The female is yellowish olive-green above and 

 dull orange-yellow below. These species frequent rather open woodlands and 

 have a clear, pleasing, though rather monotonous, song. The slight saucer- 

 shaped nest is placed on a horizontal limb, usually from seven to twenty feet 

 from the ground, and is composed of dried weed stalks, grasses, strips of 

 bark, etc. The eggs are three or four in number, greenish blue speckled 

 with brown. 



Louisiana Tanager. Throughout the western United States, from the eastern 

 base of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and northward to British Colum- 

 bia the Louisiana or Scarlet-headed Tanager ( P. luctoviciana) is frequently met 

 with. The male has the back, wings, and tail black, the wings with two broad 

 yellow bands, the rump, upper part of the tail, and lower parts of gamboge- 

 yellow, while the head and neck are orange or red. The female is olive-greenish 

 above and dull yellowish below. She has also the two distinct wing-bars. This 

 species makes its home along streams, about lakes and ponds, and especially 

 along the borders of coniferous forests. 



Other North American Tanagers. The other forms entering the United 

 States are the Cooper's Tanager (P. rubra cooperi), a larger southwestern race 

 of the Summer Tanager, and the Hepatic Tanager (P. hepatica), a bird of the 

 Mexican plateau which ranges into Arizona and New Mexico. It is a little larger 

 than the Scarlet Tanager, and is dull grayish red above and light vermilion 

 below. 



Velvet Tanagers. In continental tropical America, from southern Mexico 

 to Brazil and Peru, Tanagers of the genus Ramphocelus form a large and con- 

 spicuous group. They are medium-sized birds, the adult males being richly 

 colored with black and scarlet, black and maroon, black, crimson, and scarlet, 

 or black and yellow. The plumage is soft and velvety, that of the forehead 

 being stiff, erect, and plush-like. Passerini's Tanager (R. passerinii) is said 

 by Richmond to be exceedingly abundant in eastern Nicaragua. In color the 

 male is uniform glossy black, except the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 



