SUMMER RED-BIRD. 
469 
SUMMER RED-BIRD. 
( Tanagra (estiva, Gm. Wilson, i. p. 95. pi. [6. fig. 3. [male],|and 
fig. 4. [female]. Audubon, pi. 44. Orn. Biog. i. p. 232. Phil. 
Museum, No. 6134.) 
Sp. Charact. — Vermilion-red; inner vanes and tips of the quills 
tinged with brown ; the tail even. — Female , young , and autum- 
nal male , yellow-olive, below brownish-yellow ; the moulting 
young spotted with buff. 
This brilliant and transient resident, like the former 
species, passes the greatest part of the year in tropical 
America, from whence in his gaudy nuptial suit, prepar- 
ed by nature for the occasion, he presents himself with his 
humble mate in the Southern States in the latter end of 
April or by the first of May. In Pennsylvania they are 
but rarely seen, though in the warm and sandy barren 
forests of New Jersey several pairs may usually be ob- 
served in the course of every season ; farther north they 
are unknown, ceding those regions apparently to the 
scarlet species. They are not confined to any particular 
soil, though often met with in bushy, barren tracts, and 
are consequently common even to the west of the Missis- 
sippi in Louisiana and the territory of Arkansas, as well 
as Mexico ; they also breed near the banks of that river 
around Natchez. 
The nest is built in the woods on the low horizontal 
branch of a tree, often in an evergreen 10 or 12 feet from 
the ground ; like that of the former, it is slightly put to- 
gether, and made of broken, tough, and fibrous weeds, 
and lined with fine grass. The eggs are from 3 to 5, 
and of a light blue color, according to Wilson. Both 
parents assist in incubation, and the young are fledged 
by the middle or latter end of June. They only raise a 
single brood in the season ; and towards the middle or 
close of August, the whole party disappear on their way 
40 
