754 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



parently there is no other record of this species in any of the northern 

 states. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: Forehead, superciliary region, lesser wing-coverts, and rump lavender 

 blue or purplish; crown and occiput wine red, varying to vermilion; back and scapulars 

 maroon-purplish; sides of head and neck, and lower parts, generally plum-purplish, chang- 

 ing to nniicula-purple or maroon on the chest, the throat usually more reddish, lores 

 black (Kidgwny). 



Summer Tanager. Piranga rubra rubra (Linn.). (610) 



Synonyms: Summer Red-bird; Soutliern Tanager. 



Entirely rose-red, more or less brownish on wings and tail, but no black 

 anywhere. About the size of the Scarlet Tanager, but the bill much 

 larger and the tail nearly an inch longer. The female is olive-green above 

 and yellowish below, but usually with a wash of orange everywhere, giving 

 it a very different appearance from the female Scarlet Tanager. 



There are two doubtful records of this species for Michigan. One occurs 

 in Stockwell's Hst of Michigan birds (Forest and Stream, Vol. VIII, 281), 

 the other in the margin of A. B. Covert's copy of Coues' Key, where there 

 is a note which reads: ''Male, Ann Arbor, July 13, 1879." Mr. Covert 

 can give us no further information with regard to this specimen, and we 

 have therefore no absolute record for the state. Several correspondents 

 have assured us positively that they have seen a bird answering this de- 

 scription, but knowing how easily one may mistake a Scarlet Tanager or 

 a Cardinal for this bird, we do not feel warranted in including it on such 

 evidence. It is normally a southern bird, ranging north to southern New 

 Jersey and southern Illinois, casually to Massachusetts, Ontario (tw'o 

 records), and accidentally to Nova Scotia. According to Kumlien and 

 Hollister it is a rare but regular summer visitor in. southern Wisconsin, 

 having been reported half a dozen times or more and specimens taken 

 near Janesville, Milton, Johnstown, Racine and Milwaukee. 



In general habits, song, nesting and eggs it is very similar to the Scarlet 

 Tanager. 



Loggerhead Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus ludovicianus Tyinn. (622) 



Synonyms: Loggerhead, Summer Butclier Bird. 



Smaller than the Northern Shrike (wing 4 inches or less), and without 

 wavy cross-lines below, or with very faint ones. The lower parts are 

 almost pure white and the tail not shorter than the wings — usually longer. 



Distribution. — " Austroriparian Zone of the Atlantic and Oulf States 

 from southern North Carolina to southern Florida and west to Louisiana " 

 (A. 0. U. Check-hst, 1910). 



The notes relating to the Michigan shrikes are badly mixed, owing to 

 the assumption for many years that our commonest shrike was the Logger- 

 head, but that the western form, the White-rumped Shrike (L. I. excuh- 

 itoroides), was occasionally found here. Recently it has l)een shown 

 that our commonest shrike in summer is a form intermediate })etween the 

 White-rumped Shrike and the true Loggerhead and this form has been 

 named the Migrant Shrike. The true or southern Loggerhead may possibly 

 occur, however, in the southern part of the state, but thus far we have been 

 unable to find an actual specimen in any collection. The distinctions 

 between these subspecies ai'e very slight and their I'ccognition unlikely 



