TANAGKIJhK — TJIE TANAGKHS. 443 



Tliis species is said ])y Mr. Sulvin to eiijuy an almost universal nin<,'e 

 throughout (iuateniala. Jt occurred in Decenilier at the mouth of the Uio 

 Uulce, in the pine ridges near (.hiisigua, and alng the whole road I'rom Isa- 

 hel to Guatemahi, a ilislanee of eighty leagues. 



Mr. C W. \Vyatt met with these liirds also, in all varieties of jilumage, 

 throughout C'olondiia, South Aiiieriea, at llerradura, Coeuta \alley, and 

 Caiita. Mr. IJoueard obtained tiieni at I'laza N'ieente, Me.xico. Dr. "Wood- 

 house oljserved this .sjjeeies throughout the Indian Territory, Te.xa.s, and New 

 Me.xico, where it seemed solitary in its hal)its, frec^uenting the thick scruljhy 

 timber. It has been known to breed at various points in Floiida, (leor^ia 

 South Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas. To the northward it breeds more or 

 less abundantly, as hir as Washington, D. C, on the east, and Southern Illi- 

 nois and Kansas on the we.st, being UHicli more common in tlie Mississippi 

 Valley than in the States on the Atlantic in the same jjarallel ol' latitude. 



Mr. Dresser found it (piite common about Sun Antonio, Te.xas, during the 

 sunnner .season, arriving there about the michlle of Ai)ril, wliich is just about 

 the ])eriod at which the three specimens were taken near Jjoston. It is com- 

 paratively rare in Pennsylvania, thoi-.gh abundant in the southern counties 

 of Now Jersey, and in Delaware, Eastern j\raryland, and Virginia. It is 

 also abundant in the Carolinas, in (ieorgia, Florida, and the Gulf States. 



Wilson, in describing the nest and eggs of this sjiecies, has evidently con- 

 founded them and some of their hal)its with those of the lUue (}rosl)eak. 

 Th(;ir eggs are not ligiit-l)lue, nor are the nests, so far as I know, as described 

 by him. Audubon and \uttall co])y std)stantially his errors. 



The food of this s]iecies dining the sj^'ing and early summer is chiefly 

 various kinds of large coleojjterous insects, bees, wasps, and others. Later in 

 the season, when whortleberries are rijjc, they feed chiefly on these and other 

 small fruit. In taking its food it rarely alights on the ground, but prefers to 

 capture its insects while on tlie wing. 



The usual note of this bird, which Mr. Audubon pronounces unmusical, 

 resembles the sounds " rli irhf-ch iirki/-,Ji nek" The same writer states that dur- 

 ing the spring this bird sings pleasantly for nearly half an hour in succi'ssion, 

 that its song reseml)les that of the IJed-eyed \'ireo, and that its notes are 

 sweeter and more varied and nearly e([ual to tho.se of the Orchard Oriole. 



The late Dr. (lerhardt of ^'arIlel^s Station, in Northern Georgia, informed 

 me that these birds arc quite common in that section of country. The nest 

 is usually built on one of the lower limits of a post-oak, or in a pine sapling, 

 at a height of from six to twenty feet. They are usually constructed toward 

 the extremity of the limli, and so far from the trunk as to be very difficult of 

 access. They are generally built from the middle to the end of May. The 

 eggs are four in nund)er. 



In SoutlicM-n Illinois, according to Mr. TJidgway, the Summer T^edbird 

 arrives about the 2()th of A]iril, staying until the last of Septemlier. It is 

 more abundant than the Scarlet Tanager, and imich less retiring in its habits, 



