The Western Tanager 



Immature female: Like adult female, but duller; little contrast above; more exten- 

 sively olivaceous below. Length 177.8 (7.00); wing 95 (3.75); tail 71 (2.80); bill 

 15 (-59); tarsus 20.5 (.80). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; sedate ways; pittic note. Black and yellow 

 with crimson head of male distinctive; dull olive of female not likely to be confused 

 when size is discriminated (but see under P. rubra cooperi). The female Tanager 

 bears a strong superficial resemblance to the juvenal plumage of the Scott Oriole 

 {Icterus parisorum), although its yellows are brighter and its beak stouter; but they 

 are associationally different. 



Nesting. — Nest: A rather thin-walled and often careless structure, usually 

 scantily provided with external furniture of interlaced twigs or weed-stems, or long 

 pine needles; lining of interwoven rootlets, or more rarely of grasses, and occasionally 

 supplemented by horsehair; settled into investing foliage of horizontal branch of pine 

 or fir tree, usually near tip, or more rarely, at moderate heights in deciduous shrub. 

 Eggs: 4, or rarely, 5; light bluish green (light niagara green), spotted sharply and 

 rather sparingly, often minutely, with dark grayish olive, or fuscous (shading to drab). 

 Av. of 31 California-taken eggs in M. C. O. coll: 22.9 x 16.5 (.90 x .65); extremes: 

 19.8-25.9 by 15. 2-17 (.78-1.02 by .60-. 67). Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Western North America, breeding from high Upper Sonoran 

 to Boreal zones, and from southwestern Mackenzie, northern British Columbia, 

 and southwestern South Dakota, south to western Texas and southern California; 

 wintering from central Mexico south through the highlands of Guatemala; of casual 

 occurrence during migrations in the eastern states and as far as Maine. 



Distribution in California. — A common migrant practically throughout the 

 State, locally and sporadically abundant; breeds chiefly in Transition zones from the 

 San Jacinto Mountains north along both slopes of the Sierran ridge, and in associated 

 mountains, including the inner coast ranges of northern California; also locally through- 

 out the Coast Range system south to Santa Barbara (Bowles, 1910; also Dawson, 

 1915). The Western Tanager is a spring loiterer and the following records, although 

 interesting, do not necessarily indicate local breeding: Farallon Ids., June 1, 191 1 ; 

 Lathrop, San Joaquin County, May 26, 1912; Ben Lomond, Santa Cruz County, 

 May 18, 1914; Los Banos, Merced County, May 30, 1914; The Pinnacles, San Benito 

 County, May 17, 1916. 



Authorities. — Heermann, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, ii., 1853, p. 

 267 (Calif.); Emerson, vol. v., 1903, p. 64 (Haywards; unusual migratory "wave"); 

 Beat, U. S. Dept. Agric, Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 30, 1907, p. 23 (food) ; Grinnell, Univ. 

 Calif. Pub. Zool., vol. v., 1908, p. 105 (San Bernardino Mts. ; nest and eggs, etc.); 

 Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull., no. 185, 1915, p. 23, figs. 9, 10, maps (distr. and migr.). 



RED, yellow and black — can anyone imagine a more dashing color 

 combination! and the colors are all guaranteed pure — prime, or "spec- 

 trum" yellow for the collar, rump, epaulets, and underparts; spectrum red 

 for the forehead, crown, and as much of the remainder of the head as the 

 age of the wearer entitles him to; black, also of the purest, albeit not 

 glossy, and picked off appropriately on wings and tail with white, and on 

 the back with yellowish edgings. It is a costume for a king! 



Of course the young birds are not entitled to all this finery. The 



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