348 NOTES ON THE 
Family TANAGRIDZ. 
PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS VieILLor. (608. ) 
SCARLET TANAGER. 
This is truly awonderful bird. Its striking colors are with- 
out a precedent in this latitude, and it is a marked exception 
to the rule that the higher the colors the lower the measure of 
the melody of the song, for it sings absolutely beautifully. 
I have had the rare pleasure of listening to its strains under 
circumstances most favorable to avoid accrediting the wrong 
warbler. Jam nota little surprised that so few writers men- 
tion any other note but the ‘‘chip, chur-r-r-r” originally given 
by Wilson I think. One or two have discovered a series of 
modulations resembling the song of the Robin ‘‘only softer, 
and less copious and fluent.” Ialso read of the performance 
of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak ‘‘strongly resembling the finest 
of the Robin’s” but in the memory of the beautiful melodies 
of the Scarlet Tanager, I have no comparison which 
would not grossly mislead. The best approximation would 
be the liquid sweetness and copiousness of the best efforts 
of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, with scarcely any inflec- 
tions or modulations belonging to the same class of song 
as the Robin’s. I never attempted more than a snatch of 
the closing notes of the exquisite peroration of its melodious 
undulations, which I can but faintly describe at the 
best. Closing an effort which had been prolonged about as 
long as the longest of the Grosbeak’s, it seems most nearly to 
resemble, to wit-to where-wheedle, wheedle-wee-woo-wit. The first 
two notes with an upward, but gentle inflection, the next two 
downward, the next two and two following with a slight roll 
and the upward and downward marked in ‘‘wee-woo” by cor- 
responding infiection and defiection ending with an abrupt 
upward ‘‘wit.” 
Not an approximation towards an unmelodious note in the 
whole strain, delivered with deliberation, and a restful com- 
pleteness of volume. It has an undoubted right in the calendar 
of the genuine song birds. 
It arrives about May 10th usually, although much earlier in 
extremely premature seasons. I have one good record for April 
4th. I mention this because so very exceptional. Rev. Father 
Gear, who was the earliest army chaplain ever stationed at Ft. 
