CHARACTERS OF PYRANGA LUDOVICIANA 359 



Tanagra columbiana, Jard. " ed. Wils. i. 317 " (Me Scl.). 



Tanagra columbianus, Brewer's ed. Wils. 12nio. Boston, 1840, p. 207, flg. 93. 



Louisiana Tanager, And. 



Pyranga a face rouge, V. 1. c. 1823. 



HAD. Upper Missouri region and eastern foot-hills of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains to the Pacific. South through Mexico to Guatemala. Scarcely observed 

 north of the United States (Vancouver, Brown). Breeds in its United States 

 range. Winters extralimital. 



CH. SP. $ Flava; dorso medio, caudd alisque nigris, alls 

 flavo bifasciatis; capiterubro. $ Olivacea, infra flava later aliter 

 obscurior, caudd alisque fuscis oUvaceo-limbatis, alis albo-notatis. 



$ , adult : Middle of the back, wings, and tail black, the wings crossed 

 by two yellow or yellowish-white bars on the ends of the greater and middle 

 coverts, and the inner secondaries marked with white or yellowish. Head all 

 around scarlet or even crimson, the color extending diluted on the breast. 

 Other parts bright yellow, generally purest on the rump. Iris brown ; bill 

 horn-color; legs livid bluish. Length about 7 inches; wing, 3^-4; tail, 

 2|_3 ; bill, ; tarsus, . 



9 , adult : Above olive, darker and somewhat ashy-shaded on the middle 

 of the back, clearer and brighter on the rump and crown. Below greenish- 

 yellow, shaded with olive on the sides. Wings and tail fuscous, with edg- 

 ings of the color of the upper parts, the greater and median coverts tipped 

 with white or yellowish, and the inner secondaries edged with the same. 

 Averaging rather less than the $ . The bird lacks the buffy shades charac- 

 teristic of the $> of the P. cestiva group, besides being decidedly smaller. 

 The general coloration, in its clear olive and yellow, is exactly that of P. 

 rubra 9 , from which it is distinguished by the conspicuous white or yellow 

 markings on the wings, EO trace of which occurs in P. rubra, though the 

 latter not seldom has red bars across the ends of the coverts. 



The $ at first resembles the 9 , and in the progress toward maturity every 

 possible gradation between the two is presented. The distinctive dark dorsal 

 area, and traces at least of the red of the head, soon appear. In a usual 

 condition of incomplete dress, the black of the back is mixed with gray or 

 olive, the yellow of the back of the neck is obscured, that of the under parts 

 is shaded with olive, and the head is only partly red. The adult 9 differs 

 less ; but some dull summer specimens are found with the back quite gray, 

 and the pale yellowish of the under parts overlaid with gray. It does not 

 appear that the 9 ever acquires a trace of red on the head. 



LONG before Nuttall and Townsend's journey to the Colum- 

 bia had contributed so many new species of birds to the 

 respective publications of these authors and of Audubon, the 

 still more venturesome and memorable travels of Lewis and 

 Clarke had resulted in enriching Wilson's Ornithology with 

 three remarkable novelties Clarke's Crow, Lewis's Wood- 

 pecker, and the Louisiana Tanager. These birds, Wilson says, 

 "were discovered in the remote regions of Louisiana "j that is, 



