Scarlet Tanager, or Black-winged Summer Red-bird.
Pyranga rubra, Scarlet Black-winged Tanager, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor. Americana, vol. ii. p. 273.
Adult Male in Spring. Plate CCCLIV. Fig. 3.
Bill rather short, robust, compressed toward the end, acute. Upper mandible with its dorsal outline declinate and slightly convex, the ridge rather narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp, overlapping, with two slightly prominent small festoons about the middle, and a faint notch close to the tip, which is a little declinate. Lower mandible strong, with the angle short and wide, the dorsal line straight, the back broadly convex, the sides convex, the edges sharp, the tip acute. Nostrils round, basal.
Head rather large, ovate, flattish above; neck very short; body ovate, compact. Legs shortish; tarsus short, compressed, rather stout, with seven anterior scutella, and two lateral plates forming an acute edge behind; toes of moderate length; middle toe longer than the tarsus, lateral toes much shorter and equal, hind toe stout. Claws rather large, arched, much compressed, acute.
Plumage soft and blended; very small bristles at the base of the upper mandible. Wings of ordinary length, the second quill longest, the first four having the outer web attenuated toward the end; secondaries slightly emarginate. Tail rather long, straight, emarginate, of twelve feathers.
Bill dull greenish-yellow, brown above. Iris hazel. Feet greyish-blue, claws greyish-yellow. The general colour of the plumage is pure scarlet; the wings and tail black; the axillar feathers, inner lower wing-coverts, and more or less of the inner webs of nearly all the quills, white.
Length to end of tail 7 inches, to end of wings 5 3/4, to end of claws 6 3/8; extent of wings 11 3/4; wing from flexure 4 1/12; tail 2 10/12; bill along the ridge 7 1/2/12, along the edge of lower mandible 10/12; tarsus 9/12; hind toe 4 1/4/12, its claw 3 1/2/12; middle toe 7 1/4/12, its claw 4 1/4/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLIV. Fig. 4.
Bill and feet as in the male. The general colour of the upper parts is yellowish-green, tinged with grey, of the lower parts greenish-yellow; the feathers of the wings and tail greyish-brown, margined with yellowish-green, the secondaries and tail-feathers narrowly tipped with greyish-white, the lower wing-coverts and the edges of all the quills white.