Sp. Char. “Length, 8.00”; wing, 4.12; tail, 3.36; culmen, .68; tarsus, .84. Second quill longest, first intermediate between fourth and fifth. Bill somewhat shorter than that of æstiva, but broader and higher at the base, becoming compressed toward the end; a distinct prominent tooth on commissure; its color plumbeous-black, paler, or more bluish plumbeous on lower mandible. Male. Head above brownish-red, purer anteriorly; rest of upper parts and sides brownish-ashy, tinged with reddish; edges of primaries, upper tail-coverts and tail, more reddish. Beneath, medially, fine light scarlet, most intense on the throat, growing gradually paler posteriorly. Lores and orbital region grayish-white; eyelids pale-red; ear-coverts ashy-red.
Female. Above ashy-greenish-olivaceous, brightest on forehead; edges of wing-feathers, upper tail-coverts, and tail more ashy on the back; beneath nearly uniform olivaceous-yellow, purer medially; lores ashy; a superciliary stripe of olivaceous-yellow. Young male similar to the female, but forehead and crown olivaceous-orange, brightest anteriorly; superciliary stripe bright orange, whole throat, abdomen, and breast medially rich yellow, most intense, and tinged with orange-chrome on throat.
Hab. Mountain regions of Mexico and southern Rocky Mountains of United States. Oaxaca (Oct., Sclater); Xalapa (Scl.); Guatemala (Sclater); Vera Cruz (not to alpine regions, Sumichrast).
This species differs from all the others in the great restriction of the red; this being confined principally to the head above, and median lower surface, the lateral and upper parts being quite different reddish-ashy. The shade of red is also peculiar among the North American species, being very fine and light, of a red-lead cast, and most intense anteriorly.
Habits. A single female specimen in full plumage of this beautiful bird was obtained by Dr. Woodhouse in the San Francisco Mountains of New Mexico. It was an adult female, and so far is the only one known to have been found within the limits of the United States. It is not rare in the highlands of Mexico, whence it probably extends into the mountainous portions of the United States.
Specimens have also been procured from Guatemala, and Mr. Boucard met with it at Choapam, a mountainous district in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Nothing is known of its habits.
Pyranga æstiva, var. æstiva Vieill.
SUMMER REDBIRD.
Muscicapa rubra, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 326. Tanagra æstiva, Gmelin, I, 1788, 889.—Wilson, I, 1810, 95, pl. vi, f. 3.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 232; V, 1839, 518, pl. xliv. Pyranga æstiva, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. XXVIII, 1819, 291.—Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 136.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 222, pl. ccviii.—Sclater, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1855, 156.—Ib. 1856, 123.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 301.—Heermann, P. R. R. X, p. 17.—Ridgway, Pr. A. N. S. 1869, 130.—Maynard, Birds E. Mass. 1870, 109. Phœnisoma æstiva, Sw. Birds, II, 1837, 284. Phœnisoma æstiva, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 25. ? Loxia virginica, Gmelin, I, 1788, 849. (Male changing.) ? Tanagra mississippiensis, Gmelin, I, 1788, 889. Pyranga mississippiensis, Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 272. Tanagra variegata, Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 422. (Male changing.) Tangare du Mississippi, Buffon, Ois. V, 63, pl. enl. 741.