SPARROWS 
379 
Economic Status. The food of the Scarlet Tanager consists mostly of 
insects and fruit. The insects are mostly woodland species and their 
destruction is of importance to the forester and fruit grower. The fruit 
eaten is mostly wild, in fact most birds prefer wild to domestic fruit and 
given an abundance of the former seldom eat the latter. The Scarlet 
Tanager docs no serious damage. 
610. Summer Tanager. le tangara ros£. Piranga rubra. L, 7-50. Much 
like the Scarlet Tanager, but with red instead of black tail and dull brownish wings edged 
and tinged with red; the females bear the same relation to the male as do those of the 
Scarlet Tanager. 
Distinctions. The wings and tail are different from those of the Scarlet Tanager and 
the red is more rose-coloured, less brilliant and lighter below than on the back. The 
female is a warm orange-green of quite a different shade to the cold greenish of the allied 
female. She bears a fairly close resemblance to the female Baltimore Oriole, but the 
evenly coloured, unmarked back and wings and the Tanager bill make separation easy. 
Distribution. Southeastern United States and north to the latitude of southern 
Ohio. Has been recorded in Canada near the southern boundary along the lower Great 
Lakes and in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 
The Summer Tanager is an accidental straggler in Canada, from the 
south, along the lower Great Lakes and in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick. 
FAMILY — FRINGILLIDAE. SPARROWS, LINNETS, FINCHES, OR BUNTINGS 
General Description. As represented in Canada this is generally an easily recognized 
family. It is composed of small birds- — no Canadian species being over 8| inches in 
length — with unnotched conical bill adapted for cracking seeds, and the gape of the mouth 
usually decidedly turned down (Figures 466-468). This latter feature is not equally well 
developed in all species and some of the American Starlings (page 368), and the so-called 
English “Sparrow” (See page 366) as previously described, exhibit it strongly; but, having 
other marked characters, they can be easily distinguished from the sparrows. 
Figure 466 
Bill of Rose-breasted Gros- 
beak; about natural size. 
Figure 467 
Bill of Song Sparrow; 
about natural size. 
Bill of Crossbill; about 
natural size. 
Distinctions. The conical bill is the best point of recognition; that of the ordinary 
domesticated canary is of the characteristic sparrow type. The birds most likely to be 
mistaken for members of this family are the English Sparrow (page 366), the Bobolink 
(Figure 460, page 368) and Cowherd (Figure 464) of the previous family, and the tanagers 
of the next one. These, except the English Sparrow, are all easily separated by their 
striking colours (See under specific headings), 'l'ite tanagers show notches in the cutting 
edges and tip of the mandibles which make them easy to recognize (Figure 465, page 
377). In one group of sparrows, the crossbills, the tips of the bill cross each other (Figure 
468); in another, the grosbeaks, the bill is very large and heavy (Figure 466). 
The sparrows form the largest and most important family of the 
Perchers, and are probably the most important family of birds in the 
world. They are found everywhere except in Australia, and are repre- 
sented in all habitats from wet swamps, grassy uplands, and brushy 
thickets to dry plains and sand dunes. The terms sparrow, linnet, finch, 
and bunting are almost synonymous and are applied to various species 
