530 LAND BIRDS 



rears its brood. By November it comes down to the 

 lowlands, driven probably by lack of food supplies fully 

 as much as by the cold weather. 



607. LOUISIANA TANAGER, OR WESTERN 

 TANAGER. — Piranga ludoviciana. 



Family : The Tanagers. 



Length: 6.75-7.75. 



Adult Male : Head and neck red, brightest on crown ; back, scapulars, 



wings, and tail black; the wings with two broad yellow bands; rump, 



upper tail-coverts, and under parts bright yellow. Winter plumage 



like female. 

 Adult Female: Upper parts olive-green ; back and scapulars grayish; 



wing-bars dull light yellow ; under parts pale grayish yellow, becom- 

 ing bright yellow under tail-coverts. 

 Young : Similar to adult female, but paler beneath ; upper and lower 



parts indistinctly streaked with dusky. 

 Geographical Distribution : Western United States ; straggles eastward 



in migration to the Atlantic States. 

 California Breeding Range : Chiefly in Transition zone along the entire 



length of the Sierra Nevada. 

 Breeding Season : April to July. 



Nest: Thin, saucer-shaped structure; made of bark strips and grass 

 - stems ; lined with rootlets and horsehair ; usually placed on the 



horizontal limb of a tree, preferably an evergreen, about 15 to 30 feet 



from the ground. 

 Eggs : 3 to 5 ; light bluish green, lightly speckled with browns and 



purples, chiefly at the larger end. Size 0.95 X 0.65. 



When ■ Louisiana stretched across the continent from 

 the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean and north to 

 British America, the most beautiful bird within its bor- 

 ders became known as the Louisiana Tanager. This ap- 

 pellation has long since ceased to be appropriate, for the- 

 bird is only a rare migrant in the State whose name it 

 bears, and its centre of abundance is in the Rocky Moun- 



