The Summer Tanagers 



in spring (possibly also second year male): The yellows clearing and the reds of adult 

 plumage appearing in scattered patches. Immature female: Like adult female but 

 slightly duller. Length of adult male about 190.5 (7.50) ; wing 95 (3.74) ; tail 72 (2.84) ; 

 bill 17.5 (.69); tarsus 19 (.75). Females average slightly less. 



Recognition Marks. — See next form. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: A rather frail structure of 

 twigs and interlaced weed-stems; lined with grasses; and placed at moderate heights 

 in bushes or trees, often settled well out toward end of horizontal branch. Eggs: 

 4; pale bluish green ("egg" green, i. e., pale to light niagara green), finely and sparingly 

 or boldly and heavily spotted with brown (bister or Saccardo's umber to tawny olive). 

 Av. size 24.1 x 16.8 (.95 x .66). Season: Early June; one brood. 



Range of Piranga rubra. — Southern United States and northern Mexico; south 

 in winter to the Antilles and northern South America. 



Range of P. rubra rubra. — Breeds in the eastern states north to about Lat- 

 itude 40; casually north to provinces of southern Canada; in winter, south to the 

 Antilles, eastern Mexico, etc., to Guiana and eastern Peru. 



Occurrence in California. — Two records, both by Loye Holmes Miller: March 

 10, 1919, Arroyo Seco, between Los Angeles and Pasadena; ib., ib., Aug. 29, 1919. 



Authorities. — Miller, Condor, vol. xxi., 1919, p. 129 (Los Angeles); ibid., 

 vol. xxii., 1920, p. 78 (Los Angeles). 



Remarks. — The reported occurrence of any «(ispecies a thousand miles out 

 of its usual range, and near that assigned to another subspecies, always lays a heavy 

 burden of proof upon the expert. But the records given us by Professor Miller of 

 the occurrence of Piranga rubra rubra near Los Angeles deserve special consideration. 

 The record station, Arroyo Seco, between Los Angeles and Pasadena, is more than 200 

 miles west of the regular range of P. r. cooperi. That a single observer, working at 

 one station, should have caught both the spring and the fall movement (March 10 

 and August 29, 1919) of an exotic form, is indicative of a definite movement, however 

 aberrant. It is quite conceivable that a wandering party of Summer Tanagers, de- 

 flected by early storms, but urged on by the northing instinct, should have bred at 

 some central point in California in the summer of 1919, much as did a party of Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeaks (Hedymeles ludovicianus) in Humboldt County in the summer of 

 1897. 



No. 75a Cooper's Tanager 



A. O. U. No. 610a. Piranga rubra cooperi Ridgway. 



Synonym. — Western Summer Tanager. 



Description. — Similar to P. r. rubra, but decidedly larger; male lighter red, 

 female grayer above and duller below. Adult male: Above pompeian red (a little 

 brighter); below bright jasper red. Occasionally older (?) birds are much paler. 

 Female: Above buffy citrine (olive-yellow), lightening to old gold on pileum, rump, 

 skirtings of primaries, and tail; below olive-ochre, clearing centrally and on lower 

 tail-coverts to wax-yellow. Length 196.8-203.2 (7.75-8.00); av. of 10 adult males 

 from Colorado River valley, M. V. Z. coll: wing 100.7 (3.97); tail 78.6 (3.09); bill 

 20.4 (.80); tarsus 20.9 (.82). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow to towhee size; all-red coloration of male dis- 

 tinctive (save as regards the accidental P. r. rubra). Female requires discrimination 

 from that of P. ludoviciana. Its yellows incline toward orange instead of greenish, 

 and it lacks the whitish wing-bars of ludoviciana. 



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