668 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
In the spring migration, it was taken on May 19, 1892, at the Hachita Grande 
Mountain (Mearns), and May 10, 1914, at Silver City (Kellogg). [It is most com¬ 
mon in spring in the bottoms (bosques) of the Rio Grande (Ligon, 1916-1918).]— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Largely on low oak branches, a slight structure made of coarse rootlets 
and dried plant stems, lined with finer materials. Eggs: 3 or 4, pale bluish green, 
lightly spotted, chiefly around larger end, with browns and purples. 
General Habits. —These bricky red Tanagers with the gray 
cheeks and the single call note, chuck chuck , were found in the Guada¬ 
lupe Mountains in oaks and pines on the edge of the Transition Zone, 
especially on rocky wooded hillsides; while others were seen 300 feet 
higher in the yellow pines at 7,000 feet. 
Near the head of the Mimbres late in May, 1906, Mr. Bailey 
found them “common around camp and around the G. O. S. Ranch. 
One came regularly to eat a piece of beef put out on the fence at the 
back door of the cabin” (MS). 
Those seen by Major Goldman in the Burro Mountains the middle 
of September were feeding on wild grapes and wild cherries in a north¬ 
east slope canyon at 6,500 feet, and a pair seen by Mr. Gaut in the 
Capitan Mountains were high up among the balsams and spruces on 
the southeast slope. 
In July, 1874, in Arizona, Mr. Henshaw watched the birds “as 
they moved slowly about in the pine tops searching for insects. . . . 
The old birds manifested much affection and solicitude for their prog¬ 
eny, flying down on the low branches and, after venting their anger 
in harsh notes, returned to the side of their young and led them away 
to a place of safety.” In August, he found about half a dozen males 
in a grove of oaks on the outskirts of a pine forest (1875, p. 237). 
COOPER SUMMER TANAGER: Piranga rubra cooperi Ridgway 
Plate 71 
Description .—Male: Length (skins) 6.6-T.5 inches, wing 3.7-4.1, tail 2.9-3.4, 
bill .7-.8, tarsus .7-.8. Female: Length (skins) 7-7.8 inches, wing 3.8-4, tail 
2.9-3.3, tarsus .8. Adult male: Upperparts plain dull (vermilion) red; wings hair- 
brown with red edgings; underparts clear light (vermilion) red; axillars and under 
wing coverts paler, more pinkish; bill light brown. Colors brighter in fall and winter. 
Adult female: Upperparts pale olive-grayish, tinged with yellowish on back and 
scapulars; underparts dull yellow. Young male in first autumn: Similar to adult 
female but more richly colored, upperparts more ochraceous, with crown, wings, 
and tail tinged with dull orange. Young in juvenal plumage: Streaked; wing with 
buffy band. 
Comparisons. —T he Cooper can be distinguished from the Hepatic Tanager by 
the nearly uniform coloration of its upperparts and the soft clear red of its under¬ 
parts. (See plate 71). 
Range.— Breeds in Lower Sonoran Zone from southeastern California, central 
Arizona, central New Mexico, and central western Texas south to central Nuevo 
