BIRDS. 17 



PYRANGA AESTIVA, V i e i 1 1 .—Summer Red Bird. 



Tanagra aestiva, AuD. B. of A., Fol. pi. 44. 



Tanagra aestiva, Gmel, Syst. Nat. vol. I, Part II, p. 889. 



Pyranga aestiva, Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 1808, 301. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. — Plumage, vermillidu, assuming a brownish or reddish cast on the upper surface. Wings, dusky brown' 

 edged with vermillion. Bill, yellowish born color. Feet, light brown. 



Female. — Upper parts, olive, the rump and tail Laving a yellowish tinge. Under parts, dull orange yellow, wings brown edged 

 with yellowish olive. Bill and legs like the male. At times the plumage of the adult female is mottled with bright reddish brown. 



The young resembles the female, but is often mottled with red, yellow and green, before assuming its complete adult plumage. 



This bird is quite abundant in Texas, where we frequently heard its loud, melodious whistle 

 while hunting in the oak woods which thickly border the edges of the streams. 



XANTHORNUS AFFINIS, Lawrence .—Lesser Orchard Oriole. 



Xanthornus affinis, Lawr. Annals of N. Y. Lyceum, vol. V, p. 113. 

 Icterus spurius, Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, .117. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. — Head, throat, and upper part of back, deep black. Lower part of back, tail coverts and all the under 

 parts, deep chesnut, lesser wing coverts being of the same color. Tail and wings, brownish black, the wing feathers being 

 margined with yellowish white. Bill deep blue black, lighter at the base of lower mandible. Legs, blue. Length, 6 inches. 



fmia/c.— Upper parts, olive brown, assuming a yellowish green cast on the front and rump. Under parts, greenish yellow. 

 Wings, brown, each feather being margined with ashy white. Tail, olive brown above, lighter beneath, the outer webs of the 

 feathers, yellowish green. 



This bird in all its changes of plumage is a fac-simile of its closely allied species, XantJiornus 

 spurius. They differ only in size. It was observed abundantly about San Antonio, searching 

 on the trees for insects and their larvae, uttering a shrill and lively note much like that of our 

 common orchard oriole. Their nest, composed of flexible grasses, is suspended from the branches 

 of the mezquite tree. Incubation not having commenced while I was in the country, no eggs 

 were procured. 



CENTURUS UROPYGIALIS, B a i r d .—Gila Woodpecker. 



Centurus uropijgialis, Baird, Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc, Phil., vol. VII, p. 120. — Ib. Gen. Eep. IX, 1858, 11. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. — Head, neck and underparts, brownish ash. An obscure band of yellowish ash on the back of the neck in 

 some specimens. A blood red patch on the head. Back and wings barred transversely with black and white. Abdomen near 

 vent, yellow. Crissum and under tail coverts white barred with black. The central tail feathers black on their outer vane with 

 a strip of white commencing at the base and running to a point at about | the length of the feather. The inner vanes barred 

 and.their points black. The 2 outer feathers, white barred with black, intermediate ones, black. Bill, black. Feet, dusky. 

 Length, 9 inches. 



Female. — Wanting the red patch on the head. Front and top of the head of a lighter ash than the under parts. Length, 

 9^ inches. 



This bird is abundant among the mezquite trees on the borders of Gila river. The giant 

 cactus, (Cereus giganteus,) often 40 feet high, and which grows abundantly on the arid hill sides 

 throughout this whole section of country, is freqi;ently filled with holes bored out by this bird. 

 The pith of the plant is extracted until a chamber of suitable size is obtained^ when the juice 

 exuding from the wounded surface hardens and forms a smooth dry coating to the cavity, thus 

 making a convenient place for the purposes of incubation. At Tucson it frequents the corn 

 fields and is seen alighting on the old hedge jDOsts, in search of insects. Its note resembles 

 very much that of our red-headed woodpecker. 

 3 c 



