*_Molothrus ater obscurus_ (Gmelin).--_Specimens examined:_ total 18:
[Male] [Male] 32112-32115 from 12 mi. N, 12 mi. W Jimenez, 850 ft.,
June 18 and 19, 1952; [Male] [Male] 32108-32111, [Male] 32116, and
[Female] [Female] 32117-32120 from 2 mi. W Jimenez, 850 ft., June 20,
1952; [Female] 32491 from Las Margaritas, August 4, 1955; [Male] 31511
and [Female] 31510 from 16 mi. E, 18 mi. N Ocampo, May 8 and 7, 1952;
and [Male] [Male] 35409-35410 (skeletons only) from 4 mi. N San Isidro,
May 11, 1954.
This subspecies of the Brown-headed Cowbird is common in Coahuila and
breeds there. Amadon and Phillips (1947:579) suggested that _M. a.
obscurus_ breeds at Las Delicias. Burleigh and Lowery (1942:206) saw
the Brown-headed Cowbird in "small numbers on the outskirts of
Saltillo...."
Measurements of the adult males that I have examined are: wing, 101.1
mm. (97-106); tail, 66.5 mm. (62-69); tarsus, 25.6 mm. (24.5-28);
culmen, 17.3 mm. (16-18.5). Measurements of the adult females that I
have examined are: wing, 92.3 mm. (90-97); tail, 60.1 mm. (56.5-62.5);
tarsus, 23.5 mm. (22.5-24); culmen, 14.4 mm. (14-15). The sizes of the
testes of three of the males (6-7 mm. long) and of the largest ova of
four of the females (6-9 mm. in diameter) indicate breeding by this
subspecies in Coahuila, as does the small size of one of the juvenile
males (tail, 33.5 mm. long).
_Piranga ludoviciana_ (Wilson).--In Coahuila the Western Tanager occurs
fairly commonly as a migrant. There are no records of it breeding in
the State. Miller (1955a:174) remarked that Marsh took a migrant
Western Tanager at Jardin del Sur in the Sierra del Carmen on September
7. Amadon and Phillips (1947:579) took an adult male Western Tanager at
Las Delicias on August 12. Miller, Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore
(1957:305) also recorded this tanager from 12 mi. W Saltillo. Dickerman
saw Western Tanagers in the Sierra del Pino on May 12, 1954, and 16 mi.
E and 18 mi. N Ocampo on May 7, 1954.
*_Piranga flava dextra_ Bangs.--_Specimen examined:_ one, [Male] 31526,
from Sierra del Pino (=5 mi. S, 3 mi. W Acebuches), May 12, 1954,
weight, 41 gms.
Miller (1955a:174) found this subspecies of the Hepatic Tanager "in the
pine-oak belt at 7000 feet on April 12 [in the Sierra del Carmen], when
a male was seen and a female taken." No. 31526 was with a female when
taken; this male was not fat and its testes were not enlarged. The size
of the wing (105.5 mm.) of No. 31526 represents the extreme maximum in
this subspecies.
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