334 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Family TANAGRID^. Tanagebs. 



Genus PIRANGA Vieillot. 



PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS (Vieill.). 



243. Scarlet Tanager. (608) 



2{ale .-—Scarlet, with black wings and tail ; bill and feet, dark. Female : — 

 Clear olive green ; below, clear greenish-yellow ; wings and tail, dusky, edged 

 with olive. Youny male : — At first like the female, afterwards variegated with 

 red, green and black. Length, 7-74 ! wing, 4 ; tail, 3. 



Hab. — Eastern United States, west to the Plains and north to Southern 

 Canada ; in winter, the West Indies, Central America and Northern South 

 America. 



Nest, on the horizontal limb of a low tree on the outskirts of the bush, a 

 shallow, saucer-shaped structure, composed of vine-bark, rootlets and leaves, 

 lined with vegetable fibre. 



Eggs, three to five, dull greenish-blue, spotted with reddish-brown and 

 lilac. 



The Scarlet Tanager is one of our most brilliantly colored birds, 

 but his rich plumage is all he has to commend him to . popular 

 favor, for he is neither handsome in form nor eloquent in tongue. 

 Still he sings his song as well as he can, and it probably pleases 

 the female for whose gratification it is intended, so we let him pass. 

 In Ontario the species is peculiar to the south and makes but a 

 short stay, arriving about the 10th of May and leaving again about 

 the middle of September. 



In the fall the bright scarlet of the male's plumage is replaced by 

 green, but he retains the black on wings and tail. 



The food of the species consists chiefly of insects, in the capture 

 of which considerable dexterity is exhibited. In the fall, when the 

 wild berries are ripe, the Tanagers take to them with evident relish, 

 and though they usually keep to the retired parts of the woods, 

 sometimes at this season they visit the farmer's raspberry patch in 

 such numbers that they leave but little fruit for household use. 



In Southern Ontario they are generally distributed but nowhere 

 abundant. 



In Manitoba they occur only as stragglers during summer. In 

 the history of American birds, it is stated that at least three years is 

 required before the male assumes the perfect plumage. In the first 

 year the young male is like the female, but has the black wings and 

 tail, while in the following year the red predominates in patches. 



