476 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



A. J. van Rossem (1936), referring to the Charleston Mountains in 

 Nevada, says: 



The first evidence of migration was noted about mid-August, when there was 

 an obvious decrease in the number of the tanagers about our camp, and by the 

 28th of the month the species was so rare that perhaps not more than one a day 

 would be seen at the spring. There seemed to be a gap in the time between the 

 departure of the summer visitants and the arrival of extraterritorial migrants, for 

 on September 11 and 15 we found small flocks migrating commonly at Indian 

 Springs and on the 14th numbers were observed up to 8,500 feet in Lee Canon. 

 The latest date we have is October 7, 1931, at which time a single bird was taken 

 at the lower (8,200 feet) spring in Lee Canon. In the Sheep Mountains tanagers 

 were migrating commonly through the yellow-pine zone from September 16 to 

 19, 1930." 



Swart h (1904) says that in the Huachuca Mountains, in Arizona, 

 western tanagers reappeared on the fall migration "about the third 

 week in July, rapidly increasing in numbers from then on. Through- 

 out August the} 7 remained in large flocks composed mostly of young 

 birds and females, with but a sprinkling of old males, and their 

 favorite food at this time seemed to be the wild cherries, of which 

 there is an abundance in the mountains." 



In the Uinta Basin, in Utah, according to Twomey (1942): "The 

 main fall migration wave struck the lower river valleys of the Basin 

 during the first two weeks of September. They never were seen in 

 any numbers at this time. They seemed to scatter over the valleys 

 and to move rapidly south. After the middle of September no further 

 individuals were observed." 



Winter. — The main whiter range of the western tanager is from 

 central Mexico and Cape San Lucas southward to Costa Rica, ac- 

 cording to the 1931 A. O. U. Check-List. Dickey and van Rossem 

 (1938) say of its status in El Salvador: 



Common, at times even abundant, winter visitant everywhere in the Arid 

 Lower Tropical Zone and locally in adjacent parts of the oak and pine regions. 

 Found from sea level to 3,500 feet. * * * 



It was rather surprising to find western tanagers wintering so commonly nearly 

 200 miles south of the southernmost point from which they were previously known. 



The first arrivals to be detected were two old males which were seen in the 

 mimosa thickets at Divisadero November 12, 1925. No more were observed 

 until collecting was started on Mt. Cacaguatique November 20, 1925, when the 

 species was found to be extremely common everywhere through the coffee and 

 also in the pines and oaks a few hundred feet higher. From the latter part of 

 December until the middle of February, western tanagers were generally distrib- 

 uted everywhere over the lowlands, but later on were again found only above 

 2,000 feet. The impression in the field was that they arrived via the highlands, 

 that part of the population spread out over the lowlands during the winter and 

 then retired again to the hills for the short period remaining before the northward 

 flight. At any rate, none was seen at any locality below 2,000 feet after February 

 19, though there were plenty of birds above that level for over two months longer. 



