5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the robin.
Male -- Uniform red. Wings and tail like the body.
Female -- Upper parts yellowish olive-green; underneath inclining
to orange-yellow.
Range -- Tropical portions of two Americas and eastern United
States. Most common in Southern States. Rare north of
Pennsylvania. Winters in the tropics. Mirations -- In Southern
States: April. October. Irregular migrant north of the
Carolinas.
Thirty years ago, it is recorded that so far north as New Jersey the summer
redbird was quite as common as any of the thrushes. In the South still there
is scarcely an orchard that does not contain this tropical-looking beauty --
the redbird par excellence, the sweetest singer of the family. Is there a more
beautiful sight in all nature than a grove of orange trees laden with fruit,
starred with their delicious blossoms, and with flocks of redbirds disporting
themselves among the dark, glossy leaves? Pine and oak woods are also favorite
resorts, especially at the north, where the bird nowadays forsakes the
orchards to hide his beauty, if he can, unharmed by the rifle that only rarely
is offered so shining a mark. He shows the scarlet tanager's preference for
tree-tops, where his musical voice, calling "Chicky-tucky-tuk," alone betrays
his presence in the woods.
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