SCARLET TANAGER
608. Piranga erythromelas. 7½ inches
Male, scarlet and black; female, greenish yellow and blackish.
These beautiful birds are found in open woods, but they often come out in fields, parks, orchards and sometimes in yards when feeding; one of the prettiest sights that I ever saw was of about a dozen of these birds tripping along the furrows of a ploughed field, where they were feeding on insects. Besides berries and seeds, they live upon quantities of insects, frequently catching them on the wing in true Flycatcher style.
Song.—Resembling that of the [Robin], but harsher, less varied and higher pitched. Call, a sharp chip or “chip-churr.”
Nest.—Loosely made of twigs and rootlets, on lower branches of trees; eggs four, pale bluish green, spotted with brown (.95 × .65).
Range.—Breeds in the northern parts of the U. S. from the Atlantic to the Plains; winters in the tropics, whence it arrives about May 15.
