TANAQKID^ — THE TANAGEKS. 217 



Piranga rubra (Linn.) 



SUMMER TAITAGER. 



Popular synonyms. Vermilion Tauager; KedTanager; Red Bee-bird; Summer Redbird. 

 Fringilla rubra Linn. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758. 181. 

 Muscicapa rubra Linn. S. N. ed. 12. 1. 1766. 326. 

 I'iranga rubra ViEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. i, 1807, p. iv. 

 Tanagra cestiva Gmel. S. N. i. 1788, 889.— WiLS. Am. Orn. i. 95, pi, 6, fig. 3.— NuTT. Man. i, 

 1^32, 469.— Add. Orn. Biog. i, 1831, 232; v. 1839, 518, pi. 44. 

 Pyranga wstiva Yieill. 1819.— Aud. Synop. 1839, 136; B. Am. iii. 1831. 222, pi. 208.— Baird, 

 B. N. Am. 1858; 301; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 221.— CouES, Key, 1872. HI; Check List 

 1873, No. 108; 2d ed. 1882, No, 155; B. N. W. 1874, 82; B. Col. Tal. 1878. 352.— B. B. & R. 

 Hist. N. Am. B. i. 1874, 441, pi. 20, flgs. 5, 6 ("van a!.'!(iiia").— RiDQW. Nom. N. Am. B. 

 1881, No. 164. 

 Tanagra coccinea Bodd. Tabl. P. E. 1783, 46 (ex. PI. Enl, 741). 

 Hab. Eastern United States, northeast to Connecticut Valley, or, casually, even to 

 Nova Scotia, but abundant only south of 40°, breeding throughout its United States 

 range ; wintering in middle America and northern South America, as far as Ecuador and 

 Peru; Cuba; Jamaica. (Replaced in southwestern United States and western Mexico by 

 P. rubra cooperi.) 



Sp. Chak. Bill nearly as long as the head, without any median tooth. Tail nearly 

 even, or slightly rounded. Adult male. Rich vermilion-red, the upper parts duller and 

 darker. Bill (in fresh specimens), varying from light pinkish, more salmon-colored on 

 mandible and darker on culmen, to wax-yellow, the maxilla more olive, with darker oul- 

 men; iris brown; feet lilac-gray. Adult female. Yellowish olive above, light ochrey 

 yellow beneath. Bill, etc., as in the male. Total length, 7.45-7.95; extent, 11.50-12,25; 

 wing, 3.70-3.95; tail, 2.90-3.15. 



The male requires several years to attain the full plumage, im- 

 mature individuals showing a mixture of red and yellow, in relative 

 proportions according to the age. Some females show more or less 

 of red, one (No. 82,216, U. S. Nat. Mus.) shot at Wheatland, Indiana, 

 May 21, 1881, having the plumage more than one half red, the red 

 color being of greater extent, in fact, than on the male, wliich was 

 killed by the same shot ! The tint of the red is very peculiar, 

 however, being of dull Chinese orange, instead of pure rosy ver- 

 mihon, as in the male. 



In at least the southern half of Illinois the Summer Redbird is 

 an abundant species in dry upland woods. It is moreover a very 

 famihar species, nesting habitually in trees along the roadside and 

 even in the midst of towns. For tliis reason it is much more fre- 

 quently seen than the Scarlet Tanager, of which it is supposed by 

 many people to be a variety or special plumage. Besides being a 

 more abundant and familiar species, its notes are much louder. 

 The ordinary one sounds hke pa-chip-it-tut-tut-tut, or, as Wilson ex- 

 presses it, chicky-chucky-chvck. The song resembles in its general 



