500 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



should be borne in mind that our bird has the inner toe (exclusive 

 of the claw) elongated to beyond the third joint of the middle toe, 

 instead of falling considerably short of it, as in 31. guerilla, 31. 

 rujicollis, and 31. zonocercus, as well as the two larger species, 

 while the outer toe extends no further, if as far, as the inner one. 

 (See fig. 0, p. 482.) 



It is quite likely, however, that a large number of tail-bands is 

 characteristic of younger, and fewer bands distinctive of older 

 birds, there probably being, as in 31. mirandollii, but little differ- 

 ence between the plumage of the old and young. A circumstance 

 in favor of this supposition is that a specimen in Mr. Salvin's 

 collection having four bands on the tail, besides the terminal one, 

 shows several strong signs of immaturity, the bill being yellow, 

 the feathers of the under parts, particularly the flanks and crissum, 

 having a fluffy downy texture, while those of the sides have a 

 strong ochraceous tinge. In addition to these suggestive pecu- 

 liarities, a single feather on the breast, of the new molt, has wider 

 and more numerous bars than the others, they numbering 7 besides 

 the basal gray, while on the others there are but 5. 



Pelzeln. describes the young (first plumage) as differing in 

 having a short transverse bar of white behind the cheeks and 

 extending towards the nape, the breast and abdomen washed 

 with ochraceous and fasciated with distant and narrow bars of 

 brown, the lower part of the abdomen, the tibiae, and the sides 

 of the body without bars. The first feature is plainly visible in 

 the bird before us, in a quite well-marked white crescent behind 

 the ear-coverts, while it also has the sides, abdomen, and tibiae 

 unbarred, besides having a distinct ochraceous wash under the 



wmo-s. 



Sjjecimens Examined. Mus. Philad. Acad. 5 ; Boston Soc. 1 ; 

 N. Y. Mus. 1 ; 0. Salvin, 1. Total 8. 



APPENDIX. 



Biographical notes on M. melanoleucus. 

 The late Colonel Andrew J. Grayson, well known as an in- 

 defatigable collector and observer of birds on the western coast 

 of Mexico, thus describes the habits of this species: l 



1 On p. 299 of " Birds of Western and Northwestern Mexico. Based 

 upon Collections made by Col. A. J. Grayson, Capt. J. Xautus, and Ferd. 

 Bischoff. By George N. Lawrence." <Memoirs Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 Vol. II., pt. iii., No. ii., pp. 263-319. 



