BIRDS. 
17 
PYRANGA AESTIVA, Y i e i 11 .—Summer Red Bird. 
Tanagra acstiva, Aud. B. of A.. Fol. pi. 44. 
Tanagra acstiva, Gmel, Syst. Nat. vol. I, Part II, p. 889. 
Pyranga acstiva, Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 1858, 301. 
Sp Ch.— Male. —Plumage, vermillion, assuming a brownish or reddish east on the upper surface. Wings, dusky brown 1 
edged with vermillion. Bill, yellowish horn color. Feet, light brown. 
Female. —Upper parts, olive, the rump and tail having a yellowish tinge. Under parts, dull orange yellow, wings brown edged 
with yellowish olive. Bill and legs like the male. At times the plumage of the adult female is mottled with bright reddish brown. 
The young resembles the female, but is often mottled with red, yellow and green, before assuming its complete adult plumage. 
This bird is quite abundant in Texas, where we frequently beard its loud, melodious whistle 
while hunting in the oak woods which thickly border the edges of the streams. 
XANTHORNUS AFFINIS, L a wr e n ce .—Lesser Orchard Oriole. 
Xanthomus affinis, Lawr. Annals of N. Y. Lyceum, vol. V, p. 113. 
Icterus spurius, Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 547. 
Sp. Ch. — Male. —Head, throat, and upper part of back, deep black. Lower part of back, tail coverts and all the under 
parts, deep chesnut, lesser wing coverts being of the same color Tail and wings, brownish black, the wing feathers being 
margined with yellowish white. Bill deep blue black, lighter at the base of lower mandible. Legs, blue. Length, 6 inches. 
Female.— Upper parts, olive brown, assuming a yellowish green cast on the front and rump. Under parts, greenish yellow. 
Wings, brown, each feather being margined with ashy white. Tail, olive brown above, lighter beneath, the outer webs of the 
feathers, yellowish green. 
This bird in all its changes of plumage is a fac-simile of its closely allied species, Xanthomus 
spurius. They differ only in size. It was observed abundantly about San Antonio, searching 
on the trees for insects and their larvae, uttering a shrill and lively note much like that of our 
common orchard oriole. Their nest, composed of flexible grasses, is suspended from the branches 
of the mezquite tree. Incubation not having commenced while I was in the country, no eggs 
were procured. 
CENTURUS UROPYGIALIS, Baird .—Gila Woodpecker. 
Centurus uropygialis, Baird, Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc., Phil., vol. VII, p. 120.— Ib. Gen. Rep. IX, 1858, 11. 
Sp. Ch. — Male —Head, neck and uuderparts, brownish ash. An obscure band of yellowish ash on the back of the neck in 
some specimens. A blood red patch on the head. Back aud wings barred transversely with black and white. Abdomen near 
vent, yellow. Crissuiu and under tail coverts white barred with black. The central tail feathers black on their outer vane with 
a strip of white commencing at the base aud running to a point at about | the length of the feather. The inner vanes barred 
and their poiuts black. The 2 outer feathers, white barred with black, intermediate ones, black. Bill, black. * Feet, dusky. 
Length, 9 inches. 
Female. —Wanting the red patch on the head. Front aud top of the head of a lighter ash than the under parts. Length, 
tq inches. 
This bird is abundant among the mezquite trees on the borders of Gila river. The giant 
cactus, ( Cereus giganteus,) often 40 feet high, and which grows abundantly on the arid bill sides 
throughout this whole section of country, is frequently filled with holes bored out by this bird. 
The pith of the plant is extracted until a chamber of suitable size is obtained, when the juice 
exuding from the wounded surface hardens and forms a smooth dry coating to the cavity, thus 
making a convenient place for the purposes of incubation. At Tucson it frequents the corn 
fields and is seen alighting on the old hedge posts, in search of insects. Its note resembles 
very much that of our red-headed woodpecker. 
3 c 
