TANAGERS 
379 
FAMILY TANAGRIDiE: TANAGERS. 
GENUS PIRANGA. 
General Characters. — Bill straight, stout, conoidal; nostrils exposed ; 
rietal bristles well developed; wing of nine primaries lengthened and 
pointed; tail shorter than wings, emarginate; tarsus not longer than mid¬ 
dle toe, scaled. 
KEY TO ADULT MALES IN SPRING. 
1. Upper mandible with a tooth-like projection on cutting 
edge. 
2. Plumage marked with black. Flg * 467 * 
3. Plumage scarlet and black. erythromelas, p. 380. 
3'. Plumage red, black, and yellow .... ludoviciana, p. 379. 
2'. Plumage not marked with black ; red, with grayish back and 
brownish ear coverts .hepatica, p. 381. 
1'. Upper mandible without tooth-like projection. 
Fig. 468. 
2. Under parts vermilion or poppy red. rubra, p. 382. 
2'. Under parts rose pink. COoperi, p. 382. 
607. Piranga ludoviciana (Ws.). Louisiana Tanager: West¬ 
ern Tanager. 
Upper mandible with a tooth-like projection on cutting edge. Adult 
male in summer: head and neck bright orange or red ; rest of under 
parts bright yellow; upper parts black, with yellow rump and wing 
patches. Adult female in summer: upper parts olive green, back and 
scapulars grayish ; wing bars dull yellowish; under parts pale grayish 
yellow, becoming sulphur yellow on under tail coverts; anterior part of 
head sometimes tinged with red. Adult male in winter: like summer 
female, but with head yellow or slightly tinged with red, more or less 
obscured on occiput and hind neck with olive green or dusky tips to 
feathers; feathers of back usually more or less distinctly edged with yel¬ 
lowish olive ; tertials broadly tipped with white or pale yellow ; tail feath¬ 
ers more or less tipped with white. Young male in first autumn : like adult 
female, but clearer yellow below and rump yellower. Young female in 
first autumn: like adult female, but duller; upper parts more brownish 
olive, under parts washed with brownish olive ; wing bars narrower, and 
buffy. Young male , first plumage : upper parts olive green ; wings black¬ 
ish, with yellow wing bars; tail with outer webs of feathers edged with 
olive green; throat and chest grayish, chest tinged with yellow and 
streaked ; chin and under tail coverts yellow ; rest of under parts white. 
Male: length (skins) 6.20-6.95, wing 3.71-3.83, tail 2.64-2.98, bill .57-62. 
Female: length (skins) 6.30-6.90, wing 3.54-3.88, tail 2.68-2.89, bill .53- 
.63. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Canadian and Transition zones in mountains 
from British Columbia to Arizona, and from northwestern Nebraska to 
California; straggles eastward in migration to the Atlantic states; win¬ 
ters south to Guatemala. 
