BIRDS NOT OF A FEATHER 85 



green eggs have been laid in the cradle, off goes the male, 

 wearing his tell-tale coat, to a distant tree. There he 

 chip-churrs by the hour and sings his sweetest carol to 

 the patient, brooding mate, returning to her side only long 

 enough to feed her with the insects and berries that form 

 their food. 



Happily for the young birds' fate, they are clothed at 

 first in dull colors, and later with only here and there a 

 bright touch of scarlet, to prove their claim to the parent 

 whose gorgeous plumage must be their admiration. But 

 after the moulting season it would be a wise tanager that 

 knew its own father. His scarlet feathers are now re- 

 placed by an autumn coat of olive and yellow not unlike 

 his mate's. 



The Summer Tanager 



Length — 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the 

 robin. 



Male — ^Uniform red. Wings and tail like the body. 



Female — ^Upper parts yellowish olive-green; underneath 

 inchning to yellow. 



Range — Tropical portions of two Americas and eastern 

 United States. Most common in Southern states. Rare 

 north of Pennsylvania. Winters in the tropics. 



Migrations — ^In Southern states: April. October. Ir- 

 regular migrant north of the Carolinas. 



Thirty years ago, it is recorded that so far north as New 

 Jersey the summer redbird was quite as common as any 

 of the thrushes. In the Southern states it is still one of the 

 most familiar birds in the orange groves, orchards, and 

 woods, especially open woods of pine and oak. It, too, is 



