42 



SCARLET TANAGER. 



TAN AGE A RUBRA, 

 [Plate XI.— Figs. 3 and 4.] 



Tanagra rubra, Linn. Syst I, p. 314, 3. — Cardinal de Canada, Bris 5. Orn. Ill, p. 48, pL 

 2, Jig. 5. — Lath. II, p. 217, JVo. 3. — Scarlet Sparrow, Edw. 543.-^Canada Tanager, 

 and Olive Tanager, Arct. Zool. p. 369, No. 237— 238.— Pe ale's Museum, JVo. 6128. 



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 for a time among 

 us. While we consider him entitled to all the rights of hospi- 

 tality, we may be permitted to examine a little into his character, 

 and endeavour to discover, whether he has any thing else to re- 

 commend him besides that of having a fine coat, and being a great 

 traveller. 



On or about the first of May this bird makes his appearance 

 ' in Pennsylvania. He spreads over the United States, and is found 

 even in Canada. He rarely approaches the habitations of man, un- 

 less perhaps to the orchard, where he sometimes builds; or to the 

 cherry trees in search of fruit. The depth of the woods is his fa- 

 vorite abode. There, among the thick foliage of the tallest trees, 

 his simple and almost monotonous notes chip, chiirr, repeated at 

 short intervals, in a pensive tone, may be occasionally heard ; which 

 appear to proceed from a considerable distance tho the bird be im- 

 mediatly above you; a faculty bestowed on him by the beneficent 

 Author of Nature, no doubt for his protection; to compensate in a 

 degree for the danger to which his glowing color would often ex- 

 pose him. Besides this usual note, he has, at times, a more musi- 



