18 HEPATIC TANAOm. 



that skirted some pine woods. The birds were very shy, and seemed to be gleaning 

 insects amidst the foliage of the oaks. The following year, when Mr. Henshaw was 

 again upon the spot, he made the Tanager out to be an abundant inhabitant of the 

 pineries, and his observations represent nearly all that we know of its habits. At the 

 date of his enquiries into its mode of life, July 12, it was doubtless nesting; but he was 

 not successful, after a long search, in discovering the nest, though he carefully w^atched 

 the birds as they moved about the tops of the pines in their search for insects, occasion- 

 ally sallying out to capture them on the w^ing. He heard no song, nor indeed any 

 notes w^hatever, excepting the call-note of both sexes, resembling a repetition of the 

 syllables chuck, chuck. . . . Some old nests which Mr. Henshaw^ found at Rocl^ Canon 

 closely resembled those of the Scarlet Tanager in their situation and structure, being 

 composed mainly of coarse rootlets and dried plant-stems, w^ith lining of similar but 

 finer materials; and the rather slight unsubstantial fabrics were placed at the end of 

 low horizontal branches of oaks. During the latter part of August, the birds seemed to 

 leave the pine woods and to become more generally dispersed, some among the deciduous 

 trees along the streams, but the majority amidst groves of oaks. They all appeared to 

 have left for the South by the end of September. 



"The known range of the Hepatic Tanager in the United States is thus limited to 

 a small portion of our western territory, in the Colorado Basin, and near the Mexican 

 boundary line. In the opposite direction, the record I have compiled shows that the 

 bird has been found as far south as Guatemala, and in various Mexican localities, as 

 Orizaba, Xalapa, Oaxaca, and elsewhere." 



NAMES: Hepatic Tanagek, Liver-colored Tanager.— Rotbraune Tangara (Nehrling), [German]. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: PIRANGA HBPATICA Swainson (1827). Phosnlcosoma hepatica Cab. (1850). 



DESCRIPTION: "Ad'ult male: Above, dull red, strongly tinged with grayish on back, etc.; lower parts, light 

 vermilHon, strongly shaded on sides and flanks with brownish-gray; ear-coverts, dull grayish-red, or 

 reddish-gray, narrowly streaked with white. Adult female: Above, olive-green, the back more grayish; 

 beneath, olive-yellow, strongly shaded with olive on sides and flanks. . . . 



"Length, 7.30 to 8.20 inches; wing, 3.70 to 4.20; tail, 3.20 to 3.60 inches." (Ridgway.) 



Blue-headed Euphonia, Euphonia elegantissima Gray. This beautiful bird has 

 been ascribed to our territory, but on insufficient evidence of its actual occurrence within 

 our borders ; it was originally described by Prince Bonaparte as a bird of Mexico, and 

 shortly afterward Mr. J. P. Giraud figured it as one of his sixteen new species of birds 

 of Texas. As far as I know it has never been observed by Dr. J. C. Merrill or Mr. 

 Sennett in the region of the lower Rio Grande of Texas. 



DESCRIPTION: "Adult male. Top of head and hind-neck, uniform light blue; forehead, dark rusty or 

 chestnut, margined behind by black; rest of head and neck, with upper parts generallj', unifjrm 

 glossy blue-black, inclining to purplish steel-blue; lower parts (except chin and throat), plain orano-e- 

 rufous. Female. Top of head colored as in the male ; upper parts, oHve-green ; lower parts, including 

 chin and throat, paler and more yellowish olive-green. 



"Length about 4.70 inches; wing, 2.76; tail, 1.80 inches." (Ridgway.) 



