The Scarlet Tanager 
By WILLIAM BUTCHER 
President of the National Association of Audubon Societies 
j^ational ^gfgfociation ot ^uliubon 
EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 21 
It is the wish of the writer to repeat here what has been said in previous 
leaflets, that the fundamental object of this series of publications is to 
induce the student, as well as the agriculturist, to get in close touch with 
Nature itself, not through books, or the classroom, but out in the open. 
Nor must this association be restricted to one subject, birds; it must be 
broad and general, embracing all of Nature, in order to be of the greatest 
educational value. The fabric woven by Nature is of such exquisite pattern 
that each thread must be examined in order to enable one to appreciate the 
composite whole. The bird student is naturally led to consider many phases 
of nature, insects, plants and especially trees. Is there any more beautiful 
feature of out-of-door life than a forest? The trees of the forest are a lesson 
of patient endeavor, and their hoary trunks indicate the slow process by 
which Nature builds; each ring in the bole is a record of the ages taken to 
fashion this exquisite piece of Nature’s handiwork. As one looks down the 
long aisles and vistas of trees he is reminded of the stately columns in a 
great cathedral. Is it any wonder that the Druids held their religious cere- 
monies in Nature’s temples and that they deified the oak as the emblem of 
strength, while the clinging mistletoe typified the dependence of man? If 
one looks down, it is to find a carpet of many-hued wild flowers and mosses 
which hides the processes of change that are going on; the leaf of last year 
is turning into the mold that helps build the forest and serves as Nature’s 
reservoir to store surplus rain, thus preventing devastating floods. Through 
the openings in the foliage the sunlight streams down and forms upon the 
ground mosaics of light and shadow, more beautiful in color and design than 
any ever fashioned by the hand of man. Longfellow says, "Nature, with 
folded hands, seems kneeling there in prayer.” It is while in this hallowed 
place we hear a voice in the tree-tops and, looking upward, see a Tanager in 
his beautiful dress of scarlet and black, a true wood bird, a fitting occupant 
of such a home. 
The Tanager is a member of a large family of distinctly American birds. 
Dr. Sclater, the eminent British ornithologist, gives no less than 375 species, 
which are arranged in 59 genera.* Mr. Ridgway,t in his latest and most 
* Catalogue British Museum, Vol. XI. 
t Bulletin of the United State. National Museum No. 50, Part II. 1902. 
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