226 
TANAGRA RUBRA. 
GENUS XXXII . — TANAGRA, Linnaeus. 
SUBGENUS PYRANGA, YIEILL. 
155 . TANAGRA RUBRA , WILSON. SCARLET TANAGER. 
WILSON, PLATE XI. FIG. III. MALE. — FIG. IV. FEMALE. 
EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
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. 
W bile we consider him entitled to all the rights of hos- 
pitality, we may he permitted to examine a little into 
his character, and endeavour to discover, whether he 
has any thing else to recommend him, besides that of 
having a fine coat, and being a great traveller. 
On or about the 1st 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, unless, perhaps, to 
the orchard, where he sometimes builds ; or to the 
cherry trees, in search of fruit. The depth of the woods 
is his favourite, abode. There, among the thick foliage 
of the tallest trees, his simple, and almost monotonous 
notes, chip , churr , repeated at short intervals, in a 
pensive tone, may be occasionally heard, which appear 
to proceed from a considerable distance, though the bird 
be immediately 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 colour w ould often expose him. 
Besides this usual note, he has, at times, a more musical 
chant, something resembling in mellowness that of the 
Baltimore oriole. His food consists of large, w inged 
insects, such as wasps, hornets, and humble bees, and 
also of fruit, particularly those of that species of vacci- 
nium usually called huckle-berries, which, in their 
season, form almost his whole fare. His nest is built 
about the middle of May, on the horizontal branch of a 
