192 



SCARLET TANAGER. 



tail, wings, and tip of the crest excepted, which are nearly as 

 red as those of the male ; the lores, front, and chin are light 

 ash ; breast, and lower parts, a reddish drab ; bill, legs, and 

 eyes, as those of the male ; the crest is shorter, and less fre- 

 quently raised. 



One peculiarity in the female of this species is, that she 

 often sings nearly as well as the male. I do not know whether 

 it be owing to some little jealousy on this score or not, that 

 the male, when both occupy the same cage, very often destroys 

 the female. 



SCARLET TANAGER. (Tanagra rubra.) 



PLATE XI. -Figs. 3 and 4. 



Tanagra rubra, Linn. Syst. i. p. 314, 3.— Cardinal de Canada, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 

 48, pi. 2, fig. 5.— Lath. ii. p. 217, No. 3.— Scarlet Sparrow, Edw. pi. 343.— 

 Canada Tanager, and Olive Tanager, Arct. Zool. p. 369, No. 237, 238.— Peak's 

 Museum, No. 6128. 



PYRANGA* RUBRA.— Swainson. 



Pyranga erythropis, Yieill. Enc. Method, p. 793. — Tanagra rubra, Bonap. Synop. 

 p. 105. — Pyranga rubra, North Zool. ii. p. 273. 



This is one of the gaudy foreigners (and perhaps the most 

 showy) that regularly visit us from the torrid regions of the 

 south. He is drest in the richest scarlet, set off with the most 

 jetty black, and comes, over extensive countries, to sojourn 



* Pyranga has been established for the reception of this bird as the 

 type, and a few others, all natives of the New World, and more particu- 

 larly inhabiting the warmer parts of it. The present species is, indeed, 

 the only one -which is common to the north and south continents ; and, 

 in the former, it ranks only as a summer visitant. They are all of very 

 bright colours, and distinct markings. They are distinguished from the 

 true tanagers by their stout and rounded bill, slightly notched, bent at 

 the tip, and having a jutting out blunt tooth about the middle of the 

 upper mandible. They are placed by Desmarest among his Tangaras 

 colluriens, or shrike-like tanagers ; and by Lesson among the Tangaras 

 cardinals. The latter writer enumerates only three species belonging to 

 his division. — Ed. 



