2o0 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



of soft lichens, caterpillars' silk, and down from the ferns. 

 It is deeply hollowed, and lined with thin strips of grape-vine 

 bark and cottony substances, and sometimes a few hairs or 

 fibrous roots. Nuttall, in describing the nest, says " the 

 lining is neither soft nor downy ; " but Wilson and Audubon 

 both assert to the contrary. I hare examined a great num- 

 ber of the nests, and have found them to affree with the 

 foregoing description. The eggs are usually four in number. 

 Their color is a beautiful creamy-white, which is corered, 

 more or less tliickly, with spots of reddish-brown and IQac. 

 Average dimensions of eggs, about .63 by .50 inch. 



Perhaps the best description I can give of the liabits of 

 this bird is to sav that thev are a combination of those 

 of the Flycatchers and Warblers ; for, like the former, it 

 pursues flying insects in the air, and seizes them with a 

 1 ''"^ -napping of the bill, and, like the latter, gleans indus- 



-. ^.y for them among the foliage and branches of trees. 



The note of the E.ed Start is a shi'ill cheweea, which is 

 uttered at intervals of perhaps a half or whole minute. 



I have not noticed that it prefers any particular locality ; 



but it seems to frequent the woods, pastures, and orchards 



in equal abundance : and I have known of a pair building, 



_ :. brood, in a garden, within five rods of a house. 



About : 1 ' th of September, the Red Start leaves for 

 the South ; ana, after the 20th of that month, none are to 

 be seen in New Ensrland. 



Sub-Family Tanageik-E. — The Tanagers. 



PYRANGA, TiEiLLOT. 



Pyranga, TxEnjLOT, Ois. Am. Sept., I. (1807) lY. lb.. Analyse (1616), .32. 

 Sclater, Pr. Zool. Soc (1656), 123. 



Bin somewhat straigtit; sub-conical, cylindrical, notched at tip; cnlmen moder- 

 ately curved: commissure "vdth a median acnte lobe ; -wings elongated ; the four first 

 primaries about equal; tail moderate, slightly forked. Colors of the male chiefly 

 Bcai'let. of the female -vclluwish. 



