i6 
THE CONDOR 
1 Vol. IV 
and sometimes a look into the nest is re- 
quired to make certain. But the old 
nests were sometimes a help as we 
made a close search in their immediate 
neighborhood and were often rewarded 
by finding the new one. 
We found the birds very shy and 
rarely succeeded in seeing the bird 
leave the nest — which she did quietly, 
slipping from the bush on the side farth- 
est from us. The bird is a very pleas- 
ing singer but not equal to the Califor- 
nia thrasher. He sings less frequently 
and does not often perch on top of the 
brush during the performance but 
seems to prefer the cover of branch and 
leaf. The song is rather in a minor 
strain — B flat I should say — and has 
fewer variations than that of his near 
relative. In company with the thrash- 
ers were seen many Abert townees 
{Pipilo abert i) and two unfinished nests 
and one set of eggs found. A few Le- 
conte thrashers. {Harporhynchus lecoti- 
tei) were seen on the outskirts of the 
thickets but they seem to prefer the 
more open and sandy country — the de- 
sert proper, — with which their light 
sandy “complexion” harmonizes. 
in ^ ^ ^ ^ 
The Louisiana Tanager. 
{Piranga ludovicia7ia.) 
BY J. H. BOWLES, TACOMA, WASH. 
T his handsome member of the 
tanager family is, perhaps the 
most brilliantly plumaged of all 
the birds in the northwest. Being an 
eastern observer, I eagerly looked for- 
ward to the first acquaintance with this 
relative of my favorite of the Massachu- 
setts groves, the scarlet tanager {Pira7iga 
erythro77ielasP Nor was I disappointed, 
for in comparing fully plumaged males 
of both species, although unlike in 
color in ever}' respect, it w'ould be hard 
to say which is the more beautiful. 
For the benefit of eastern readers, it 
may be as well to make a few compari- 
sons between the subject of this article 
and the scarlet tanager. Its habits dif- 
fer considerably from the latter, as it is 
principally a bird of the clearings, while 
erythro77ielas is more given to the seclu- 
sion of the woods. 
Among our northwestern migrants it 
is almost the last to come and the first 
to go, appearing in large numbers about 
the middle of May, and leaving early in 
September. Although essentially a 
warm weather bird, the majority seem 
to pass on to the north of Washington, 
as it can hardly be called a common 
bird around Tacoma at any time ex- 
cepting that of migration. 
Nest building in Washington and 
Oregon is seldom commenced before the 
first week in June and is more often de- 
layed until much later in that month. 
The earliest set recorded is one of four 
eggs, incubation commenced, taken on 
June 4 . The latest is a set of three, in- 
cubation slight, taken on June 28 . Both 
of these sets were taken in Waldo, Ore- 
gon, by my brother, Mr. C. W. Bowles, 
and both were undoubtedly firat sets. 
The favorite location for the nest is 
an oak or fir, preferably the latter, on 
or bordering a prairie. Often, however, 
a tree is selected on some hillside from 
which nearly all the large timber has 
been cleared. In position, the nest is 
invariably 07i a branch, never in an up- 
right crotch in my experience. As a 
rule it is placed at some distance from 
the main trunk of the tree, usually 
from six to ten feet and often much 
more. The height from the ground 
varies from fifteen to fifty feet, though 
any above thirty feet may be considered 
exceptional. 
In these respects its habits are similar 
to those of the scarlet tanager, although 
the latter prefers a more secluded nest- 
ing place. The nest itself is also simi- 
lar, with the exception that it is usually 
a considerably more bulky structure. 
