Conspicuously Red of any Shade 



Scarlet Tanager 



(Piranga erythromelas) Tanager family 



Called also : ^LACK-\MmG^D REDBIRD ; FIREBIRD; CAN- 

 ADA TANAGER ; POCKET-BIRD 



Lefjgth — 7 to 7. 5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the robin. 



iMale — In spring plumage : Brilliant scarlet, with black wings and 

 tail. Under wing coverts grayish white. In autumn : Simi- 

 lar to female. 



Female — Olive-green above; wings and tail dark, lightly margined 

 with olive. Underneath greenish yellow. 



Range — North America to northern Canada boundaries, and south- 

 ward in winter to South America. 



Migrations— yidi^ . October. Summer resident 



The gorgeous coloring of the scarlet tanager has been its 

 snare and destruction. The densest evergreens could not alto- 

 gether hide this blazing target for the sportsman's gun, too often 

 fired at the instigation of city milliners. "Fine feathers make 

 fine birds " — and cruel, silly women, the adage might be adapted 

 for latter-day use. This rarely beautiful tanager, thanks to them, 

 is now only an infrequent flash of beauty in our country roads. 



Instinct leads it to be chary of its charms; and whereas it 

 used to be one of the commonest of bird neighbors, it is now shy 

 and solitary. An ideal resort for it is a grove of oak or swamp 

 maple near a stream or pond where it can bathe. Evergreen 

 trees, too, are favorites, possibly because the bird knows how 

 exquisitely its bright scarlet coat is set off by their dark back- 

 ground. 



High in the tree-tops he perches, all unsuspected by the vis- 

 itor passing through the woods below, until a burst of rich, sweet 

 melody directs the opera-glasses suddenly upward. There we 

 detect him carolling loud and cheerfully, like a robin. He is an 

 apparition of beauty — a veritable bird of paradise, as, indeed, he 

 is sometimes called. Because of their similar coloring, the tana- 

 ger and cardinal are sometimes confounded, but an instant's 

 comparison of the two birds shows nothing in common except 

 red feathers, and even those of quite different shades. The incon- 

 spicuous olive-green and yellow of the female tanager's plumage 

 is another striking instance of Nature's unequal distribution of 



218 



