494 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



In the Thayer collection is a set, taken by O. W. Howard, that was 

 found 19 feet from the ground in an upright fork of a madrofia. 



Eggs. — Four eggs usually make up a full set for the hepatic tanager, 

 but often only three are laid and rarely as many as five. These are 

 usually ovate in shape and are moderately glossy. William George 

 F. Harris has contributed the following description of the colors: 

 The ground color may be "pale Nile blue/' "Etain blue," "pale 

 Niagara green," or "bluish glaucous." The eggs are speckled or 

 spotted with "bay," "chestnut," "chestnut-brown," "carob brown," 

 or "liver brown." The markings, usually in the form of fine speckling 

 or small spots, are generally well distributed over the entire egg, but 

 with concentration toward the large end, where frequently they form 

 a wreath. Some eggs show undertones of "pale neutral gray," but 

 these markings are seldom prominent and often indistinct. In 

 general, the eggs of this species seem to show a tendency to be less 

 heavily or boldly marked than those of either the western tanager 

 or the summer tanager. 



The measurements of 50 eggs average 24.5 by 17.7 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 26.8 by 18.5, 25.3 by 18.9, 

 21.5 by 16.9, and 22.0 by 16.6 milhmeters. 



Young. — Nothing seems to be known about the period of in- 

 cubation nor about the development and care of the young. 



Plumages. — Ridgway (1902) describes the nestling (juvenal) 

 plumage as: "Conspicuously streaked beneath with dusky on a pale 

 buffy ground, more indistinctly streaked above on a grayish olive 

 ground; middle and greater wing-coverts margined terminally with 

 buff; otherwise like adult female." 



The sexes are alike in juvenal plumage and in the first winter 

 plumage. 



The first winter plumage is acquired by a partial postnuptial molt, 

 in July and August, which involves the contour feathers and the 

 wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings nor the tail. After this 

 molt, young birds of both sexes are essentially like the adult female, 

 light olive green above, more yellowish on the crown, with grayish 

 cheeks, and yellow beneath. This plumage is apparently worn 

 through the first breeding season with little change, except that some 

 young males may acquire a few red or orange feathers on the head 

 and throat. 



The fully adult plumage is acquired in late summer at the first 

 postnuptial molt, which is complete and is practically the only 

 seasonal molt of any consequence. In the fall and winter male the 

 back and scapulars are more strongly tinged with brownish gray than 

 in spring birds, but wear produces a clearer color effect before the 

 nuptial season. There is much individual variation in the seasonal 



