398 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIJIALS. — CLASS IL AVES. 



latitudes to breed, but return to the otlier localities to pass the winter 

 months. 



Among these birds, one of the most familiar is tlie Scarlet Tanaoer 

 (Pi/raiif/a ruhvu). The male of this species in full plumage is a brilliant 

 scarlet-red, with wings and tail black. The female anil male in autumn are 

 of a dull-green, inclining to yellow, with the wings antl tail dusky. 



"This splendid and transient resident," says Nuttall, " accompanying fine 

 weatiicr in all its wandciings, arrives from ids winter station in tropical 

 America from the beginning to the middle of ^lay, and extends his migra- 

 tions, probably, to Nova Scotia as well as Canada. A\'itli tlie shy, unsocial, 

 and suspicious habits of Iiis gaudy fraternity, he takes up his abode in the 

 deepest recesses of the forest, where, timidly flitting from observation, he 

 darts from tree to tree like a flashing meteor. A gaudy sylph, conscious of 

 his brilliance, and tiie exposure to which it subjects him, he seems to avoid 

 remark, and is only solicitous to be known to his humble mate, and hid 

 from all beside." 



"Tiie i'emale Tanager shows great solicitude for the safety of her only 

 brood ; and on an ajtproach to the nest, appears to be in great distress and 

 aj)prehciision. Wlieii tiicy are released from her more immediate protec- 

 tion, the male, at first cautious and distant, now attends and feeds them 

 with activity, being altogetiier indifferent to that conceidment wiiich his 

 gaudy dress seems to require from his natural enemies. So attached to his 

 now interesting brood is the Scarlet Tanager, that he has been known, 

 at all iiazards, t<j follow for half a mile one of his young, submitting to 

 feed it attentively tiu'ough the bars of a cage, and, with a de^■otion which 

 despair could not damp, roost by it in the branches of the same tree with 

 its ])rison." 



Tiie favorite localities of this liird seem to be oak groves, situated near 

 swam|)s. Here we have often heard several males sinirint!: at the same 

 time, and have watched them in their active movements in their pursuit of 

 insects, of which this species destroys great numbers. The nest is placed 

 on a horizontal liml) of a tree, usually from fifteen to twenty feet fi'om the 

 ground, in the deep woods. It is constructed of slender twigs of the oak, 

 huckleberry, or whortleberry bush, and weeds. These arc loosely put to- 

 gether ; so much so, that, were it not for the interlacing of the small joints 

 of the twigs, it would soon fall a[)ari. It is not deeply hollowed, and is 

 lined with thread-like fibrous roots and tlie leaves of the various pines. 

 The whole structure is so thinly made as almost to fall to pieces on removal 

 from the tree. The cgLj's are usually foiu' in munber, sometimes three, 

 seldom five. Tiiey are of a dull, light, greenish-blue color, of ditlerent 

 shades, and spattered with purplish-brown, in some specimens quite thickly, 

 in others less so. 



