THE SCARLET TANAGER. 
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other, and, save an occasional chip-chirr 
which it utters in a listless tone, is altogether 
a quiet, unobtrusive bird. But, when we see 
the Tanager welcome the new-comer with warm 
caresses and loudly repeated songs, we con- 
clude at once that it is his mate ; and we are 
right. Soon the pair, with affectionate twitter- 
ings and caresses, flit away through the foli- 
age ; and we do not follow them farther, for 
our attention is attracted by the song or move- 
ments of some other of our feathered acquaint- 
ances of the woods. 
The Scarlet Tanager arrives here in its north- 
ern migrations about the twenty-fifth of May, 
the males usually preceding the females a few 
days. It is rarely seen away from its favorite 
oak-groves, where it is usually busy, through 
the day, in searching for various insects, of 
which its food principally consists. Early in 
June, after mating, both birds begin to pre- 
pare their nest ; this is almost always placed 
on a fork of a horizontal branch of a tree, 
about twenty feet from the ground, usually in 
the deep woods. It is constructed of fine 
