258 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



shallow structure of small twigs and weed stalks, lined with 

 fine rootlets or blossom stems, placed on a horizontal limb of 

 a deciduous tree, from 7 to 30 or even sometimes 40 feet above 

 the ground. 



Food habits. — Forbush speaks of this tanager as "the ap- 

 pointed guardian of the oaks" and states that it captures many 

 moths and other insects which infest these forest trees. He 

 adds: 



' "As a caterpillar hunter the bird has few superiors. It is 



often very destructive to the gypsy moth, taking all stages but 

 the eggs. * * * Leaf-rolling caterpillars it skillfully takes from 

 the rolled leaves, and it also digs out the larvae of gall insects 

 from their hiding places. Many other injurious larvae are 

 taken. Wood-boring beetles, bark-boring beetles, and weevils 

 form a considerable portion of its food during the months when 

 these insects can be found. Click beetles, leaf -eating beetles and 

 craneflies are greedily eaten."t 



This tanager occasionally takes a little fruit, as cherries, 

 strav/berries, mulberries, or huckleberries, but in the main it 

 is insectivorous in its diet, and as indicated by the above quota- 

 tion, decidedly beneficial. 



SUMMER TANAGER; SUMMER REDBIRD; BEE-BIRD r 



Piranga rubra rubra (Linnaeus). 



State records. — The summer tanager is much commoner 

 than the scarlet tanager and is generally distributed as a sum- 

 mer resident, but in the pine flats of the coast belt occurs only 

 sparingly. First arrivals from the south appear usually the 

 first week in April, having been noted at Coosada, March 31 ; 

 Greensboro, April 3 ; Autaugaville, April 4 ; Tuscaloosa, April 

 7 ; Smelley, April 10, and Sand Mountain, April 12. The last 

 seen in fall at Leighton was on October 8 and at Bon Secour 

 on October 19. I took an adult male at Piedmont, October 20, 

 1916. Eggs have been found at York, May 14; Leighton, 

 May 17 and June 8; Autaugaville, May 19; and Prattville, 

 May 27. 



General habits. — This tanager is found in rather open pine 

 woods and seems to prefer tracts having an undergrowth of 



fForbush, £. H., Useful Birds and their Protection, pp. 213, 214. 



