Birds of Oregon and Washington 143 



THE LOUISIANA, OR WESTERN, TANAGER. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION : 



Male: Head and neck, bright red; back, wings 

 and tail, black ; rump and entire lower part, 

 bright yellow. 

 Length, 7 inches. 



Found about evergreen and other trees. 



Some day about the last of May, when we are 

 watching an Audubon's Warbler in an ever- 

 green, or perhaps passing a group of these trees, 

 we may hear a song like, and yet not like, the 

 Robin's. If at first it seems to be quite the 

 same, a little closer attention will reveal a more 

 metallic note, and a song more regularly and 

 rapidly repeated than that of our more familiar 

 friend. If our ears direct our eyes, we shall not 

 look long before the author of this song will ap- 

 pear in an opening, and reveal to us a strik- 

 ing plumage of red, yellow and black, and a new 

 bird, or at least one whose general and par- 

 ticular name we may not yet have learned. This 

 is a male of the only variety of the Tanager 

 family upon the Pacific coast north of Mexico, 

 and, as these birds are always in pairs, you may 

 expect to find his mate near at hand. 



The Louisiana Tanager received his name 



