LOUISIANA TANAGEE. 
231 
In a female the intestine is 74 inches long. 
The contents of the stomach in both were remains of insects and seeds. 
The digestive organs of this bird, and probably of all the Tanagers of the 
same group, are thus not essentially different from those of the Passerine 
tribe, including Pinches, Buntings, &c. The oesophagus has a more elon- 
gated dilatation than in most of the species of that tribe, of which, however, 
the Corn Bunting of Europe is very similar in this respect. 
LOUISIANA TANAGER. 
Pyranga Ludoviciana, Wils . 
PLATE OCX.— Male and Female. 
W ilson was the first ornithologist who figured this handsome bird. From 
his time until the return of Mr. Townsend from the Columbia river no 
specimen seems to have been procured. That gentleman forwarded several 
males in much finer condition than those brought by Lewis and Clarke. 
Some of these I purchased, and on his return to Philadelphia, I was pre- 
sented with a female by my young friend Dr. Trudeau. The account of 
this species is by Thomas Nuttall, who, however, was unacquainted with 
the female. 
“We first observed this fine bird in a thick belt of wood near Lorimer’s 
Fork of the Platte, on the 4th of June, at a considerable distance to the east 
of the first chain of the Rocky Mountains (or Black Hills), so that the 
species in all probability continues some distance down the Platte. We 
have also seen them very abundant in the spring, in the forests of the 
Columbia, below Fort Vancouver. On the Platte they appeared shy and 
almost silent, not having there apparently commenced breeding. About the 
middle of May we observed the males in small numbers scattered through 
the dark pine forests of the Columbia, restless, shy, and flitting when 
approached, but at length moTe sedentary when mated. We frequently 
traced them out by their song, which is a loud, short, slow, but pleasing 
warble, not much unlike the song of the Common Robin, delivered from the 
tops of the lofty fh’- trees. This music continues at short intervals through 
