14 SUMMER RBDBIRD. 



their way to more northern latitudes, the breeding range of these birds extending north- 

 ward to about 40°. Central Illinois, Ohio, and New Jersey seem to be the northern 

 boundary line of their summer home. The real home of the Summer Tanager, however, 

 are the Southern States, especially those bordering the Gulf of Mexico. In south-eastern 

 Texas they abound especially in localities where groups of sweet gum alternate with 

 long-leaved pines and oth^r trees. I found them still more common on the edges of the 

 post-oak woods in Lee County of the same State. As soon as the young are able to 

 leave the nest, they are led into the interior of the forest, where I always met them in 

 the large and lofty trees of the bottom woods. In the south-west comer of Missouri 

 they are often met, and according to the late Col. S. N. Goss they are common summer 

 residents in eastern Kansas. West they are found to the Great Plains. According to 

 Dr. C. H. Merriam they occur north regularly to the Connecticut valley. The majority 

 winter in Cuba, eastern Mexico, and Central America, many migrating even into the 

 tropics of northern Southern America. In the south-western part of the country the 

 Summer Redbird is represented by a variety known as Cooper's Tanager {Piranga 

 rubra cooperi Ridgw.). 



Although very beautiful, the Summer Redbird cannot vie with the Scarlet Tanager 

 in intensity and splendor of colors. The ground-color is a very fine rosy vermillion, 

 darkest and mixed with dusky on wings and back. It is a beautiful sight to 

 watch the male when he sings in the top of a flowering magnolia or a loblolly bay, or 

 among the branches of the southern pines. The female is quite different, being greenish- 

 olive on the back and dull buffy-yellow below. Our plate (XIX), made after a beautiful 

 water-color painting by Prof. Robert Ridgway, renders a more detailed description 

 needless. In this connection I cannot refrain from saying that this is one of the most 

 beautiful pictures of the genial artist and ornithologist, whose paintings rank among 

 the very best, being always natural and at the same time ideal and full of poetry. The 

 back-grotmd of the picture represents a part of the woods on the lower Wabash in Illinois. 



During a five year's residence in Texas and other parts of the South I had the 

 best opportunity of studying the habits of this Tanager. According to my observations 

 the birds always choose their haunts in rather dry than in wet and swampy localities. 

 Near Houston, Texas, they were found usually in the beautiful laurel oaks, magnolias, 

 elms, button wood, sweet gum, and other large growing trees. I also observed the 

 bird frequently in the monotonous post-oak woods between the Colorado and Brazos 

 Rivers. In the groups of live-oaks in the prairie regions of Texas I have never seen 

 this Tanager. Its haunts are always in the upper "stories of the woods," where Vireos 

 are its constant neighbors. Below, in the bushes and thickets. Cardinal Redbirds, 

 Blue Grosbeaks, and other songsters have their home. 



Like the Scarlet Tanager, the Summer Redbird is one of the latest arrivals in its 

 breeding range. In south-eastern Texas and in Lee County of the same State the males 

 arrive usually from April 1 to April 10, and in south-western Missouri fi-om April 30 

 to May 17. If the weather be cold, they arrive late, if pleasant, they may be expected 

 from ten to fifteen days earlier. 



According to Prof. Robert Ridgway the male requires several years to attain the 

 full plumage, immature individuals showing a mixture of red and yellow, in relative 



