290 TANA&EID^. 



The Summer Eedbird, as this species is called in North America, is one of the most 

 familiar of the Tanagers of that continent, where it arrives from its winter quarters in 

 April and leaves again in September, breeding in the interval in most of the Southern 

 States, and as far north as Washington, beyond which it can only be accounted a 

 straggler. Westwards it is common in the valley of the Mississippi, and thence extends 

 to the border of the plains ^\ In winter it spreads over eastern and southern Mexico, 

 and thence over the whole of Central America, and passes southwards through Colombia 

 and Ecuador to Peru, keeping chiefly to the slopes of the Andes. We have a single 

 female specimen from Roraima in Guiana, shot by Mr. H. Whitely in January 1881 ; 

 but this is all we know of the bird so far to the eastward in the southern continent, 

 though Buckley obtained it at Sarayacu in Eastern Ecuador ; and the National Museum 

 at Washington has it from the sources of the Huallaga in Peru ^^. 



As will be seen from our list of localities given above, Pyranga oestiva is a very 

 common bird in Guatemala, where it is found nearly everywhere, from the sea-level to 

 a height of about 5000 feet. It is an inhabitant of the more open country rather than 

 the forests, but may be seen on the edges of clearings and open places of the kind ; the 

 brilliant plumage of the male rendering it a most conspicuous bird. In Cuba Dr. 

 Gundlach notices the appearance of P. cestiva during the spring and autumn migrations 

 and its absence from the island in the winter. During its stay it is usually seen in 

 flocks feeding upon the fruit of certain trees ^^. 



The authors of the ' History of the North-American Birds ' speak of the Central 

 American and Colombian birds being purer in colour than those from the States ; but, 

 with a large series before us, we fail to trace any law of this kind, and we take it the 

 southern birds are but the northern ones in their winter quarters, and that any difference 

 of colour must be due to season alone. 



Brewer describes a nest from Louisiana as having a diameter of four inches and a depth 

 of two inches, the cavity shallow, being hardly more than half an inch. The structure is 

 well and strongly put together, though somewhat openly woven ; the materials are 

 fragments of plants, catkins, leaves, stems, and grasses ; the inner portion is of fine dry 

 grasses, which are more elaborately woven than the outer structure. The eggs are 

 bright light emerald-green, spotted, marbled, dotted and blotched with various shades 



of lilac, brownish-purple, and dark brown, which are equally diffused over the whole 



egg 24. 



Several specimens of this Tanager were obtained in Bermuda in April 1860 ^^. 



3. Pyranga cooperi. 



Pyranga cooperi, Ridgw. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1869, p. 130 '. 



Pyranga mstiva, var. cooperi, Baird, Brew. & Eidgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 444 '; Lawr. Mem. Best. See. 



N. H. ii. p. 273 \ 

 Pyranga (estiva, Finsch, Abh. nat. Ver. z. Bremen, i. p. 338 \ 



