Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/286

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TAMWORTH 242 TANCRED TAMWORTH, a town on the border of Stafford and Warwick shires, England; at the confluence of the Tame and Ank- er; 110 miles N. W. of London. Burned by the Danes in 911, and rebuilt by the Princess Ethelfleda, it was the seat of a castle of the Saxon kings, which was afterward held by the Marmion, Ferrars, and other families, and now belongs to the Marquis of Townshend. That castle, which ranges in date between Saxon and Jacobean times, crowns a knoll 130 feet high; in its noble round keep is a room where Mary, Queen of Scots, was a pris- oner. The Church of St. Edith, restored since 1870, at a cost of £10,000, has some interesting monuments and a curious double tower staircase. There are also a bronze statue of Peel, the new Jubilee municipal buildings and assembly rooms, a town hall (1701), a grammar school (1858; rebuilt 1868), almshouses found- ed by Thomas Guy, a cottage hospital, recreation grounds, etc. The manufac- tures include elastic tape, small wares, paper, etc.; and in the vicinity are market gardens and coal pits. A muni- cipal borough, chartered by Elizabeth, Tamworth, returned two members to Parliament till 1885. Pop. (1917) 8,000. TANA, a river in the extreme N. of Norway; forming part of the boundary between it and Russia. Also a river of East Africa, within the British sphere of influence; rising in Mount Kenia, navigable for about 100 miles in the rainy season. TANAGERS {Tanagridse) , a family of the Passeriformes, or perching birds, containing nearly 400 species; the bill is usually conical (sometimes depressed or attenuated) , more or less triangular at ihe base, with the cutting edges not SCARLET TANAGER much inflected, and frequently notched near the tip of the upper mandible. This last character will generally serve to dis- tinguish the tanagers from the finches, to which they are very closely allied; while on the other hand they have strong affinities to the American warblers {Mniotiltidse) . They are mostly birds of small size, some of the genus Euphonia, being hardly four inches in length. This genus, with its ally Chlorophonia, is re- markable in having no gizzard; the bii'ds belonging thereto feed chiefly on ripe fruits, which, with insects, form the prin- cipal food; some, however, feed on seeds and gi'ain, like the finches. With the exception of a few species which visit North America in summer, the tanagers are confined to Central and South Amer- ica and the West Indies. Some genera of tanagers are remarkable for their beauty of plumage. Many are also pleasant songsters, such as the organist tanager {Euphonia musica) of San Do- mingo; the male of this species has the upper parts purplish-black, the cap blue, and the forehead, rump, and under parts yellow; the female being olive-green, with a blue cap, and lighter and yellow- ish below. The scarlet tanager (Pyranga rtibra), visiting the E. parts of North America in summer, and rang- ing S. in winter to Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, is also a songster; it is larger than the preceding species, and the male is scarlet, with black wings and tail, while the female is olive, with the wings and tail brown. Tanagers do well in captivity. TANAGRA, the type genus of the family Tanagridx, with 12 species, rang- ing from Mexico to Bolivia and La Plata. TANANA VALLEY, a district, wa- tered by the River Tanana and its trib- utaries, belonging to the Yukon water- shed, Alaska. Area, 25,000 square miles. Pop. (white) about 7,000, the natives, Tananas, decreasing in number. During twelve months ending in 1915 gold valued at $66,000,000 was mined. Gold is the chief mineral, though coal beds extend from Upper Nenana to the Delta river, and in the Bonnefield dis- trict there is an area of 600 square miles with lignite coal. On the whole the abundant grass, rich soil and extensive woodland make the Tanana valley a fa- vorable region for settlement, and it is estimated that there will soon be at least 50,000 acres under homestead. TANCRED, a hero of the first crusade; son of the Marquis Odo the Good and of Emma, Robert Guiscard's sister; born in Sicily in 1078; in 1098 assumed the cross, and with his cousin Bohemond set out on the crusade. Through the Byzan- tine empire they marched to Constanti-