Habits. This bird is one of the many instances in which Wilson has been unfortunate in bestowing upon his new species a geographical name not appropriate at the present time. We have no evidence that this bird, called the Louisiana Tanager, is ever found within the modern limits of that State, although it occurs from the Great Plains to the Pacific, and from Fort Liard, in the northern Rocky Mountains, to Mexico.
It was first met with by Lewis and Clark’s party, on the Upper Missouri, a region then known as Louisiana Territory. They were said to inhabit the extensive plains in what was then called Missouri Territory, building their nests in low bushes, and even among the grass, and delighting in the various kinds of berries with which those fertile prairies were said to abound.
Mr. Nuttall, who met with these birds in his Western excursions, describes them as continually flitting over those vast downs, occasionally alighting on the stems of some tall weed, or the bushes bordering the streams. Their habits are very terrestrial, and from this he infers that they derive their food from the insects they find near the ground, as well as from the seeds of the herbage in which they chiefly dwell. He found them a common and numerous species, remaining in the country west of the Mississippi until the approach of October. In his first observations of them he states that though he had seen many of these birds, yet he had no recollection of hearing them utter any modulated or musical sounds. They appeared to him shy, flitting, and almost silent.
He first observed these birds in a thick belt of wood near Laramie’s Fork of the Platte, at a considerable distance east of the Black Hills. He afterwards found them very abundant, in the spring, in the forests of the Columbia, below Fort Vancouver. In these latter observations he modified his views as to their song, and states that he could frequently trace them by their notes, which are a loud, short, and slow, but pleasing warble, not very unlike that of the common Robin, delivered from the tops of lofty fir-trees. Their music continues, at short intervals, during the forenoon, and while they are busily engaged in searching for larvæ and coleopterous insects, on the small branches of the trees.
Dr. Suckley found this Tanager quite abundant at certain seasons in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom. In one year a very limited number were seen; in another they were very abundant. From frequent opportunities to examine and to study their habits, he was inclined to discredit the statement of Nuttall that they descend to low bushes, the reverse being the rule. He found it very difficult to meet with any sufficiently low down in the trees for him to kill them with fine shot. Their favorite abode, in the localities where he observed them, was among the upper branches of the tall Abies douglassii. They prefer the edge of the forests, rarely retiring to the depths. In early summer, at Fort Steilacoom, they could be seen during the middle of the day, sunning themselves in the firs, or darting from one of those trees to another, or to some of the neighboring white oaks on the prairie. Later
in the season they were to be seen flying very actively about in quest of insect food for their young. On the 10th of July he saw one carrying a worm in its mouth, showing that its young were then hatched out. During the breeding-season they are much less shy, the males frequently sitting on some low limb, rendering the neighborhood joyous with their delightful melody.
Their stomachs were found filled with insects, chiefly coleoptera; among these were many fragments of the large green Buprestis, found on the Douglass fir-trees.
Dr. Cooper adds to this account, that this bird arrives at Puget Sound about May 15, and becomes a common summer resident in Washington Territory, especially near the river-banks and among the prairies, on which are found deciduous trees. He compares its song to that of its black-winged relative (P. rubra), being of a few notes only, whistled in the manner of the Robin, and sounding as if the bird were quite distant, when in reality it is very near. He met with these birds east of the Rocky Mountains and up to the 49th parallel.
In California the same observer noticed their arrival near San Diego, in small parties, about the 24th of April. The males come in advance of their mates, and are more bold and conspicuous, the females being rarely seen. He saw none of them in the Coast Range toward Santa Cruz, or at Santa Barbara, in summer. He also found them in September, 1860, in the higher Rocky Mountains, near the sources of the Columbia, in latitude 47°. In the fall the young and the old associate in families, all in the same dull-greenish plumage, feeding on the berries of the elder, and other shrubs, without the timidity they manifest in spring.
Mr. J. K. Lord states that he did not once meet with this species west of the Cascade Mountains. He found them on the Spokan Plains and at Colville, where they arrive in June. Male birds were the first to be seen. On their arrival they perch on the tops of the highest pine-trees, and continually utter a low piercing chirp. They soon after pair, and disappear in the forest. Where they breed, Mr. Lord was not able to discover, though he sought high and low for their nests. As he never succeeded in finding them, he conjectured that they must breed on the tops of the loftiest pine-trees. They all leave in September, but do not assemble in flocks.