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TANAGER

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 394 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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TANAGER , a word adapted from the quasi-Latin Tanagra of See also:

LINNAEUS

Linnaeus, which again is an See also:

ADAPTATION (from Lat. adaptare. to fit to)

adaptation, perhaps with a classical allusion, of Tangara, used by M. J. See also:

Brisson and G. L. L. See also:

BUFFON, GEORGE LOUIS LECLERC, COMTE DE (1707-1788)

Buffon, and said by G. de L. Marcgrave (Hist. Rer. Nat. Brasiliae, p. 214) to be the Brazilian name of certain birds found in that See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country. From them it has since been extended to a See also:

GREAT

great many others mostly belonging to the See also:

SOUTHERN

southern portion of the New See also:

WORLD

World, now recognized by ornithologists as forming a distinct See also:

FAMILY

family Tanagridae of the Oscines See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of Passerine birds allied to the Fringillidae (see See also:

FINCH); and distinguished from them chiefly by their feebler conformation and more exposed nostrils.

They are confined to the New World, and are specially characteristic of the tropical forests of Central and See also:

South See also:

AMERICA

America. The tanagers have been examined systematically by P. L. Sclater, and in the See also:

BRITISH

British Museum See also:

CATALOGUE (a Fr. adaptation of the Gr. KaraXoyos, a register, from Karalyety, to enrol or pick out)

Catalogue (xi. pp. 49–307) he admits the existence of 375 See also:

SPECIES

species, which he arranges in 59 genera, forming six subfamilies, Procniatinae, Euphoniinae, Tanagrinae, Lam protinae, Phoenicophilinae, and Pitylinae. These are of very unequal extent, for, while the first of them consists of but a single species, Procnias tersa—the position of which may be for several reasons still open to doubt—the third includes more than 200. Nearly all are birds of small See also:

SIZE

size, the largest barely exceeding a See also:

SONG

song-See also:

THRUSH (A. S. Prysce, Icel. priistr, Norw. Trast, O. H. Ger. Drosce, whence the mod. Ger. prossel, to be compared with the analogous English form Throstle,l now almost obsolete, both being apparently diminutives)

thrush. Most of them are remarkable for their See also:

GAUDY

gaudy colouring, and this is especially the See also:

case in those forming the genus called by Sclater, as by most other authors, Calliste, a See also:

TERM

term inadmissible through preoccupation, to which the name of Tanagra of right seems to belong, while that which he names Tanagra should probably be known as Thraupis. The whole family is almost confined to the Neotropical region, and there are several forms See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to the See also:

ANTILLES

Antilles; but not a tenth of the species reach even southern See also:

Mexico, and not a dozen appear in the See also:

NORTHERN

northern See also:

PART

part of that country. Of the genus Pyranga, which has the most northern range of all, three if not four species are See also:

COMMON

common summer immigrants to some part or other of the See also:

UNITED

United States, and two of them, P. rubra and P. aestiva, known as the See also:

SCARLET

scarlet tanager and the summer redbird, reach See also:

CANADA

Canada and Bermuda. P. aestiva has a western representative, P. coopers, which by some authors is not recognized as a distinct species. The See also:

MALES

males of all these are clad in glowing red, P. rubra having, however, the wings and tail See also:

black.

The remaining species, P. ludoviciana, the males of which are mostly yellow and black, with the See also:

head only red, does not appear eastward of the See also:

MISSOURI

Missouri plains, and has not so northerly a range. Another species, P. hepatica, has shown itself within the limits of the United States. In all these the See also:

FEMALES

females are plainly attired; but generally among the Tanagers, however See also:

bright may be their coloration, both sexes are nearly alike in plumage. Little has been recorded of the habits of the species of Central or South America, but those of the See also:

north have been as closely observed as the rather retiring nature of the birds renders possible, and it is known that See also:

INSECTS

insects, especially in the larval See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition, and berries afford the greater part of their See also:

food. They have a pleasing song, and build a shallow See also:

NEST

nest, in which the eggs, generally three in number and of a greenish-See also:

BLUE (common in different forms to most European languages)

blue marked with See also:

brown and See also:

PURPLE

purple, are laid. A few species are regularly but sparingly imported into See also:

EUROPE

Europe alive, and do well as cage birds. On the whole the Tanagridae may perhaps be considered to hold the same relation to the Fringillidae as the Icteridae do to the Sturnidae and the Mnioiiltidae to the Sylviinae or Turdinae, in each case the purely New-World Family being the " feebler " type. (A.

End of Article: TANAGER

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