SCARLET TANAGER, OR BLACK-WINGED RED-BIRD. 229 



unspeakably rapturous — must the delight of those individuals have been, who 

 have rescued their fellow beings from death, chains, and imprisonment, and 

 restored them to the arms of their friends and relations! Surely in such 

 godlike actions, virtue is its own most abundant reward." 



Male, 7,1 If. Female, 6 J, 1 Of. 



From Texas to Lake Huron. Throughout the Valley of the Mississippi, 

 Kentucky, and Ohio. Common. Migratory. 



Scarlet Tanager, Tanagra rubra, Wils. Amer. Orn.. vol. ii. p. 42. 



Tanagra rubra, Bonap. Syn., p. 105. 



Scarlet Tanager, or Black-winged Summer Red-bird, Swains, and Rich., F. Bor. 



Amer., vol. ii. p. 273. 

 Scarlet Tanager, Tanagra rubra, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 465. 

 Scarlet Tanager, Tanagra rubra, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 388. 



Adult Male in Spring. 



Bill rather short, robust, compressed toward the end, acute. Upper man- 

 dible with its dorsal outline declinate and slightly convex, the ridge rather 

 narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp, overlapping, with two slightly 

 prominent small festoons about the middle, and a faint notch close to the 

 tip, which is a little declinate. Lower mandible strong, with the angle short 

 and wide, the dorsal line straight, the back broadly convex, the sides convex, 

 the edges sharp, the tip acute. Nostrils round, basal. 



Head rather large, ovate, flattish above; neck very short; body ovate, 

 compact. Legs shortish; tarsus short, compressed, rather stout, with seven 

 anterior scutella, and two lateral plates forming an acute edge behind; toes 

 of moderate length; middle toe longer than the tarsus, lateral toes much 

 shorter and equal, hind toe stout. Claws rather large, arched, much com- 

 pressed, acute. 



Plumage soft and blended; very small bristles at the base of the upper 

 mandible. Wings of ordinary length, the second quill longest, the first four 

 having the outer web attenuated toward the end; secondaries slightly emar- 

 ginate. Tail rather long, straight, emarginate, of twelve feathers. 



Bill dull greenish-yellow, brown above. Iris hazel. Feet greyish-blue, 

 claws greyish-yellow. The general colour of the plumage is pure scarlet; 

 the wings and tail black; the axillar feathers, inner lower wing-coverts, and 

 more or less of the inner webs of nearly all the quills, white. 



Length to end of tail 7 inches, to end of wings 5f, to end of claws 6f ; 

 extent of wings llf; wing from flexure 4^; tail 2-}-§; bill along the ridge 

 ■ff, along the edge of lower mandible {§; tarsus * s ; hind toe ff-, its claw ff; 

 middle toe yf, its claw y§. 



Adult Female. 



Vol. III. 37 



