Western Summer Tanager 411 



Description. — Male — General colour throughout scarlet ; wings and 

 tail black, under wing-coverts white ; iris brown, bill greyLsh-blue 

 basally, dull greenish terminally, legs pale lavender-grey. Length 

 6-25 ; wing 3-90 ; tail 2-90 ; cuhnen -60 ; tarsus -72. 



In the winter the red is replaced by greenish. The female is olive- 

 green above, the wings and tail dusky with greenish edging to the 

 feathers but no wing-bars ; below dull greenish-yellow, purer yellow 

 on the under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts white with a dusky 

 border. The young male is intermediate between the female and 

 adult male. 



Distribution. — Breeding in eastern North America from Manitoba 

 and Nova Scotia southwards to eastern Kansas and North Carolina 

 in the mountains ; south in winter to the West Indies and tlurough 

 Mexico to BoHvia and central Peru. 



The Scarlet Tanager may be regarded as an occasional visitor to 

 Colorado ; it has been met with some half-dozen times. Berthoud 

 took one near Golden in 1867, and saw another in the Del Norte Valley 

 in September, 1883. Cooke saw two mounted males taken near 

 Newcastle in the spring of 1892. Aiken reports the occurrence of one 

 near Limon in May, 1899. There are two adult males in the col- 

 lection of the State Museum of Denver (Smith 02 and 08) ; one of these 

 was taken at Pakner Lake in El Paso co. on May 17th, 1902, by 

 W. C. Ferril, the other near Pueblo on May 20th, 1904, by B. G. 

 Voight. Rockwell states that Sullivan saw one on June 4th, 1904, 

 near Grand Junction. 



Western Summer Tanager. Piranga rubra cooperi. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 610a— Colorado Record — Henshaw 75, p. 239. 



Description. — Male — Throughout a rather dull crimson-red, brightest 

 on the head, rump and vmder-parts ; wings dusky brown but edged 

 with red so that the dusky is concealed in the closed wing ; iris brown, 

 bill light brown, paler along the cutting edge ; legs horny. Length 

 7-2 ; wing 4-0 ; tail 3-0 ; culmen -75 ; tarsus -78. 



In the female the red is replaced by yellowish-olive, rather more 

 greyish in shade in the middle of the back, and more yellowish below ; 

 under wing-coverts yellow without dusky border. The dimensions 

 about the same. 



Distribution. — South-west United States from central Texas to 

 California ; south through Western Mexico to Colima. 



This Tanager is of accidental occurrence in Colorado. It has 

 been only once obtained — by Henshaw on May 10th, 1873, near 

 Denver. 



It is rather remarkable that it has not since been met with, as it is 

 common in New Mexico and Arizona. The nearest point to Colorado 



