444 NOUTll AMERICAN BIRDS. 



frequenting the open groves instead of the deeper v/oods and the forests of 

 tlie bottoni-Jands, being especially attached to the parks and groves within the 

 towns. From its similarity in appearance, manners, and notes to the Scarlet 

 TiMiagcr. it is seldom distinguisiied by the connuon people from tiiat bird, 

 and those who notice the dilTerence in color between the two generally con- 

 sider this the younger stage of plumage of the black-winged species. Its 

 song is said to bo somewhat aft^sr the style of the liobin, but in a firmer 

 tone and more continued, It differs from the song of the P. rubra in being 

 more vigorous, and delivered in a manner less faltering. Its ordinary note of 

 anxiety when the nest is api)roached is a i)wn\vdv pa-chip it-tat-tat-tat, very 

 dillerent from the w(;aker chip'-itf, ra-ree of the F. rubra. The nest is placed 

 on a low horizontal or drooping branch, near its extremity, the tree being 

 generally an oak, or sometimes a i)ickory, and situated near the roadside or at 

 the edge of a grove. In its construction it is described as very thin, though 

 by no means frail, permitting the eggs to be seen through the interstices 

 from below. Mr. Kidgway never found m(n'e than three eggs in one nest. 



A nest of this sjiecies (Smith. Coll., r.89) from Prairie Mer Itouge, Louisi- 

 ana, has a diameter of four inches and a height of two. Like all the nests 

 of this family, the cavity is very shallow, its deepest depiession being hardly 

 halt an inch. So far from corresponding with the descriptions generally 

 given of it, this nest is well and even strongly put together, although a por- 

 tion of the base; and some of tiie external parts are somewhat openly inter- 

 woven, as if for ventilation. These materials are fragments of plants, cat- 

 kins, leaves, stems, and grasses. These seem to constitute a distinct part of 

 the nest, and are of unequal thicknesses in different parts of the structure. 

 Within this external frame is a much more artistic and elaborately interwo- 

 ven basket, composed entirely of fine, slender, and dry gras.ses, homogeneous 

 ill cliaracter, and evidently gathered just at the time its seed was ripening. 

 It is of a bright straw-yellow, and forms the whole internal portion of tll'e 

 nest. 



The eggs vary somewhat in size and shape, from an oblong to a rounded 

 oval. Their lengtli is from .80 of an inch to an inch, and their breadth 

 averages .68. Their color is a bright light ^hade of emerald-green, spotted, 

 umhhA, dotted, and blotched with various shades of lilac, brownish-purple, 

 and dark-brown. These are generaUy well diffuseil equally over the entire 



eg'g. 



Pyranga aestiva, var. cooperi, RincwAv. 



P!/r,vn,,, coper i, linuavAV, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Pliihul. June, 1869, p. 130, fig. . -Cooi-ek, 



Sp. Cn.ui. Lon?tli, 8.00 (fivsl, .spooimon) ; extent, UM; wiiifr, 4.24; tail, .l.fiS ; cal- 

 nu-n, .84 ; laisus, .80. JAr/r. C.vurvMy ri,,!, ,,„,,, v,,„„jli„„_ ,,i,„i|,, t„ .,,,„ „f ^,,.^,„^ ,,,,^ 

 n.i^l.t.T, l„.,i.|it.-r tl„ui m ensUTi, ^.x.-unplos, an.l los.s n.sacoous tiian in Central Aniori- 

 can speuuuena. L'ppur surlaco scarcely darker than lower, the liead above being hardly 



