April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACH]QCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. 47 



Piranga ludoviciana (Wilson). Western Tanager, 



Occasionally during the summer months I have seen Western Tan- 

 agers in some of the higher parts of the mountains, so they probably 

 breed in the Huachucas, though in very limited numbers. They are 

 fairly common during the spring migration, the first noted being on 

 April 26, but are more abundant in the lower oak regions than elsewhere, 

 going in flocks of ten or twelve, often in company with the Black-headed 

 Grosbeaks. Such flocks were seen throughout May and early in June, 

 after which they disappeared, except for the stragglers before men- 

 tioned, to reappear about the third week in July, rapidly increasing in 

 numbers from then on. Throughout August they remained in large 

 flocks composed mostly of young birds and females, with but a sprink- 

 ling 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. 



Piranga hepatica Swainson. Hepatic Tanager. 



A fairly common summer resident, generally distributed over the 

 mountains during the migration, but in the breeding season restricted 

 more to the canyons between 5000 and 7500 feet. In 1902 the first arrival 

 was noted on April nth, and the following year on April i6th ; about the 

 middle of May they were quite abundant in the higher pine regions, 

 going in flocks of eight or ten, feeding in the tree tops and but seldom 

 descending to the ground. The male birds collected vary but little in 

 shade or intensity of the red coloration, except that late summer birds 

 are paler and duller through abrasion of the plumage, but there is hardly 

 one that does not show some greenish-yellow feathers somewhere in the 

 plumage, sometimes but a scattered feather or two, and sometimes a 

 conspicuous patch of that color. Two male birds secured are strikingly 

 different from the others in that in general appearance they strongly 

 resemble the female, though of a larger size. Possibly this is an imma- 

 ture stage, but it seems to be of rare occurrence ; and one of these two 

 birds was taken on April i6th, the first of the species to arrive for the 

 year, which is rather unusual for a young bird ; while the other, shot on 

 Tune 2, 1896, was a breeding bird. The first mentioned is, in coloration, 

 a facsimile of the average female, but the other differs in having chin, 

 throat, and jugulam, bright orange, with some of the same color on the 

 anterior portion of the crown. Females vary, principally on the lower 

 parts, from rather bright greenish-yellow to dark olive-green : while one 

 from the Santa Rita Mountains has the entire under parts, including the 

 lower tail coverts, and excluding the flanks, bright orange-buff. 



A young bird taken August 26, 1902. with sex undetermined but 

 probably a male, for it is larger than the average female, is still in the 

 streaked juvenile plumage. Chin, throat, breast and abdomen are 

 heavily streaked with dusky, while the crown, dorsum, rump and lower 

 tail coverts are more faintly marked with the same. A few greenish- 

 vellow feathers are beginning to appear on various parts of the body. 



Piranga rubra cooperi Ridgway. Cooper Tanager. 



This species proved to be of very rare occurrence in the mountains, 

 (luring the migration ; though it is a fairly common summer resident 

 along the San Pedro River. I have met with it in the Huachucas on but 

 three occasions; a male bird, secured on May 6, 1902, at an altitude of 

 5700 feet, which is probably as high an elevation as is ever reached by 

 this species ; and two females taken near the base of the mountains on 

 May 3, 1902, and May 8, 1903, respectivelj-. 



