Notes on the Plumage of North American Birds 



FORTY-SEVENTH PAPER 

 By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



(See Frontispiece) 



Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra, Figs. 1-3).— At the first fall (postjuvenal) 

 molt the young male acquires a plumage which closely resembles that of the 

 female (Fig. 3) but is somewhat more ruddy, with saffron under tail-coverts 

 and a tinge of red on the crown. The extent of the spring (first prenuptial) 

 molt varies greatly among different individuals. Some birds gain a wholly 

 red body and retain only the primaries and secondaries of the winter plumage. 

 Others acquire only a few red body feathers. Between these extremes there is 

 every degree of intergradation, the bird shown in our plate (Fig. 2) representing 

 a not infrequent plumage of this Tanager in its first breeding dress. Birds in 

 this plumage present a most striking appearance and are sometimes reported 

 by inexperienced observers as 'new' or 'strange' species. 



At the second fall (first postnuptial) molt, the adult plumage, with wings 

 and tail as well as body red, is donned, and thereafter (unlike the Scarlet 

 Tanager) the bird shows no further change in color. 



The female passes from the nestling or juvenal plumage into one resembling 

 that of the adult (Fig. 3). This, it will be observed, is much yellower than that 

 of the female Scarlet Tanager, the wings and tail especially being less fuscous. 



Hepatic Tanager {Piranga hepatica, Figs. 4, 5). — The nestling of this species 

 is olivaceous above, paler below, and is obscurely streaked with blackish. At 

 the postjuvenal molt, the male in passing into first winter plumage, becomes 

 much like the adult female (Fig. 5). A plumage essentially like this, but with 

 a few more red feathers on the head and throat, is worn by at least some birds 

 in their first breeding dress. I have not a large enough number of specimens 

 to state whether all young males wear this plumage, which corresponds to the 

 first breeding dress of the Summer Tanager. 



The adult plumage is apparently secured at the first postnuptial or second 

 fall molt, and is thereafter retained. It may be like that of our plate (Fig. 4), 

 or still show traces of the olive-green dress of immaturity. 



After the postjuvenal molt the female presents no color changes in plumage. 



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