WESTERN TANAGER 475 



dom of the woodland — not of the country that has felt the influence 

 of mankind." 



W. Leon Dawson (1923) writes: "While chiefly silent during the 

 migrations, the arrival of the birds upon their chosen summer sites 

 is betokened by the frequent utterance of a pettish pit-ic or pit-itic. 

 The full-voiced song grows with tho season, but at its best it is little 

 more than an 6tude in R. * * * I can detect no constant difference 

 between the song of the Western Tanager and that of the Scarlet 

 Tanager (P. erythromelas) , save that that of the former is oftener 

 prefaced with the call note, thus: Piteric whew, we soor a-ary e-eerie 

 witooer. This song, however, is less frequently heard than that of 

 the Scarlet Tanager, East." 



Ralph Hoffmann (1927) says of it: "A Tanager is always deliberate 

 and often sits for a long period on one perch singing short phrases 

 at longish intervals. The song sounds much like a Robin's; it is 

 made up of short phrases with rising and falling inflections pir-ri 

 pir-ri pee-wi pir-ri pee-wi. It is hoarser than a Robin's, lower in 

 pitch and rarely continued for more than four or five phrases; it lacks 

 the joyous ringing quality of the Robin's. The Tanager's call note 

 is one of the most characteristic sounds of the mountains of Cali- 

 fornia and the evergreen forests in the lowlands of Oregon and Wash- 

 ington. It may be written prit-it or pri-titick, followed often by a 

 lower chert-it." 



He writes the note of the young as chi-wee, "suggesting the note of 

 the young Willow Goldfinch or the call of the Purple Finch." Du 

 Bois (MS.) calls it "a musical pe-o-weet," the middle note low. 



Field marks. — The adult male western tanager is unmistakable, 

 with his brilliant yellow body, his black back, tail, and wings and with 

 a touch of red on his head; his colors fairly gleam among the dark 

 green of the conifers. His mate is more quietly colored, olive above 

 and yellow below, with no black hi her plumage and rarely a tinge of 

 orange on her forehead; she might be mistaken for a female scarlet 

 tanager, except for her two white wing bars. The white, or yellowish 

 white, wing bars are characters of the species at all ages or seasons. 

 The call note is more distinctive than the song. 



Enemies. — The Nevada cowbird has been known, but only in a 

 few cases, to lay its eggs in nests of the western tanager. Probably 

 the tanager has other feathered and furred enemies, but the sharp- 

 shinned hawk seems to be the only one recorded. 



Fall. — S. F. Rathbun tells me that, in western Washington, the 

 autumnal migration begins about the middle of August and continues 

 up to the middle of September. Farther south, where the birds breed 

 in the mountains, they descend to the foothills and valleys in August 

 before they start on their southward migration to a warmer climate. 



