666 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
and flying out and back in plain sight, securing them almost in the 
manner of a Flycatcher. But in the forested mountains where he nests, 
a golden flash from a tree top may be all that is disclosed. Then, as 
Mr. Henshaw says, he is “busy the whole time gleaning from among 
the pines and spruces the larger beetles and insects which infest them, 
and generally keeps well up among the higher branches” (1875, p. 
236). He might easily pass unnoticed were it not for his characteristic 
call and song. On the Pecos, near Willis, where a pair were feeding 
young, the Pit-ick of the father was given continually as he hunted 
slowly and quietly over the cottonwood branches or sat on a limb, 
resting himself; and his longer pit-er-ick , pit-er-ick was also frequently 
heard, sometimes given softly, its notes run together. 
In the Burro Mountains, in September, 1908, Major Goldman 
found one of the Tanagers feeding on wild cherries in a northeast 
slope canyon at 6,500 feet. In the Zuni Mountains, on Mount Sedg¬ 
wick, he also saw several the middle of June, 1909, among quaking 
aspens, Douglas spruces, and limber pine (Pinus flexilis), at 8,800 to 
9,000 feet (MS). In the Santa Fe region twelve nests located by 
Mr. Jensen were in Douglas fir. 
ARIZONA HEPATIC TANAGER: Piranga hepatica oreophasma Oberholser 
Plate 71 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 6.9-7.8 inches/wing 4-4.1, tail 3.1-3.4, 
bill .6-7, tarsus, .8-.9. Female: Length (skins) 6.9-7.7 inches, wing 3.8-4, tail 
2.9-3.3, bill .6-.7, tarsus .8-.9. Adult male in summer: Upperparts dull red, brighter 
on crown, wings, and rump, tinged with brown on back and scapulars; tail and wings 
brownish with red edgings; cheeks grayish, streaked with white; underparts bright red, 
reddish gray on flanks, under mandible bluish gray. Adult male in full and winter: 
Back and scapulars browner, underparts duller, feathers partly tipped with paler. 
Adult female in summer: Top of head yellowish olive-green, back, scapulars, rump, 
and upper tail coverts dull olive-gray, tail coverts tinged with olive-yellow; tail grayish 
olive with yellowish green edgings; wings with yellowish edgings; checks grayish; 
underparts yellow, sides tinged with grayish olive. Adult female in fall and winter: 
Similar to the summer female but plumage softer and coloration brighter. Young 
in juvenal plumage: Streaked, over olivaceous above and paler below. In the first 
breeding dress, some young males, at least, resemble the female, but with red feathers 
on the head and throat (Chapman). 
Comparisons. —The gray cheeks and grayish back distinguish the Hepatic from 
the Cooper Tanager. (See p. 668.) 
Range. —Breeds from northwestern Arizona, central New Mexico, and central- 
western Texas south over the tablelands of Mexico to Guatemala. 
State Records. —Although a southern species, reaching the northeasternmost 
part of its range in New Mexico, the Hepatic Tanager breeds principally in the 
mountains north to Mesa Yegua, 7,400 feet, June 25, 1903; Bernal, 7,000 feet, July 
3-11, 1903 (Bailey); and Willis, 7,800 feet, July 5-12, 1883 (Henshaw); but it was 
taken as low as 4,800 feet, May 31, 1892, at Dog Springs (Mcarns). It has been 
recorded from the Zuni Mountains, August 31, 1851 (Woodhouse), and Los Pinos, 
June 20-22, 1864 (Coues), but it is probable that the Los Pinos birds had dropped 
