102 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF MICHIGAN. 



on the ground; eggs four, immaculate, greenish blue; ''very common at Manchester, 

 summer of 1892, and the nests were abundant in clover fields " (L. W. Watkins); food 

 largely insects; some examined by Prof. S.A.Forbes (Michigan Horticultural Report 

 1881, p. 204) showed one-half the food to be canker worms; " not known in Michigan 

 twenty years ago, but becoming more common each year, still rarely found north of 44° 

 north latitude " (Dr. M. Gibbs). 



Family TANAGRIDiE. Tanagbrs. 



Highly colored, purely insectivorous. 



Genus PIKANGA Vieill. 



252-608-(154). Piranga erythromelas Vieill. *Scablet Tanager; Black- 

 winged Redbird. 

 Common throughout Southern Michigan at least; May to August, occasionally to 

 October; "Mackinac Island" (S. E. White); "common at Iron Mountain" (E. E. Brews- 

 ter); breeds; nests in May or June, usually on top of horizontal limb, in orchard or 

 small trees, "from twenty to fifty feet from ground on or near ends of swaying 

 branches" (Dr. W. C. Brownell); "often twenty or thirty feet, and rarely, as many as 

 forty feet from the ground " (Prof. Ludwig Kumlein); " nest loose, shallow and coarse " 

 (Prof. J. W. Simmons); eggs three to five, greenish blue spotted with brown; not only a 

 sweet singer, but our most showy bird. Mr. Geo. D. Sones writes m3 that the nests 

 are often so poorly built that the eggs may be counted from below looking up through 

 the nests. This bird, of late, comes close to our houses on the college campus. 



253-t>10-(155). Piranga rubra (Linn.). * Summer Tanager; Summer Redbird. 

 Exceeamgly rare, and only in extreme southern limit; straggler from the south; 

 not so brilliant as the preceding species, and the male has not the black wings. E. L. 

 Moseley reports one from Michigan; " not seen at Ann Arbor " (Dr. J. B. Steerej; 

 " never seen in Monroe County" (Jerome Trombley); if ever seen in Michigan an acci- 

 dental and very rare straggler. 



Family HIRUNDINID^B. Swallows. 



These feed wholly on insects; are very beneficial, and very amiable toward each 

 other. 



Genus PROGNE Boie. 



254-61 1-(1G5). Progne subis {Linn.). * Purple Martin. 



Common throughout the summer, or was so, prior to the reign of the English Spar- 

 rows; throughout the state; "rare in Monroe County" (Jerome Trombley); "common at 

 Iron Mountain " (E. E. Brewster); "rare outside Detroit, I hunted for four years to find 

 a set of eggs for my collection " (Dr. W. C. Brownell); "common every year at Hub- 

 bardston, where it arrives April 7th to 9th each year" (Prof. C. W. Wheeler); "rare and 

 local in Washtenaw County" (Dr. J. B. Steere); " becoming very rare at Plymouth " 

 (J. B. Purdy); "Grand Traverse County" (M. L. Leach); "Mackinac Island" (S. E. 

 White); " nests commonly at Alma, Gratiot County, in the false fronts of stores, where 

 it successfully combats the European Sparrow" (Prof. C. A. Davis); will oppose the 

 European successfully for a time but will finally yield the fort; " nests in Hillsdale in 

 the hoods over electric lights" (F. M. Falconer); breeds; nests in June, in boxes, holes" 

 in trees, etc.; eggs four to six, white; food insects, even Wasps and May Beetles. 



