NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 383 



Diag. A. rostro tenue, acutissimo, compresso, flavo, plumulis hand densis 

 ad medium porrectis, superioribus partibus luteis fusco-striatis, lateribus 

 uropygioque semper fusco-striatis, pedibus mediocribus, digito medio cum 

 ungue tarso aequale. 



Mas nupt. temp, jugulo, pectore, lateribus, uropygioque roseo tinctis. 



Fern, et mas juv. pectore uropygioque albidis, fusco-striatis. 



Long. 5.50 poll. ; alar. lat. 9.00 ; ala. 3.00 ; cauda 2.50 ; rostr. 0.34; tarsus 

 0.56; dig. med. 0.35; ung. 0.22. 



Hab. Amer. Sept., prascip. bor.; Europ. Asia. 



Description. (Adult male, in breeding plumage). The bill is small, slender, 

 exceedingly acute, much compressed, higher than broad at the base, the late- 

 ral line very concave ; the culmen and gonys are about straight ; the commis- 

 sure appears straight to the angle, but the cutting edge of the lower mandible 

 has a considerable lobe towards the base, which being incurved, is concealed 

 by the overlapping edges of the upper mandible in the closed bill. The bill is 

 bright yellow, except the culmen and gonys, which are dusky. The nasal 

 plumuli, though not very dense, are considerably lengthened, extending over 

 half the bill. The front, lores and a rather small gular spot are blackish ; but 

 the feathers of the first have whitish tips, which give it a hoary appearance. 

 There is a superciliary streak somewhat lighter than the adjacent parts, but 

 it is illy denned. The entire crown is deep crimson, as in full plumaged birds 

 of all the species of the genus. The sides and back of the head and neck, the 

 upper parts generally to the rump, the scapulars and lesser wing coverts, are 

 variegated with blackish brown and dingy yellowish ; each feather having its 

 central portion of the former color, its edges and tip of the latter. On the 

 rump the yellowish mostly disappears, that part being streaked with dusky 

 and pure white. The wings and tail are brownish black or deep dusky ; the 

 latter all round, the former only on the outer vanes edged with whitish. The 

 edging is very narrow on the primaries, but on the inner secondaries and ter- 

 tials becomes broad and conspicuous. The median and greater coverts are nar- 

 rowly edged and broadly tipped with white, with a tinge of yellowish, form- 

 ing two transverse bars on the wings. The throat, breast, sides to some 

 distance, with the rump, are tinged with carmine, deepest on the breast, 

 faintest on the rump. This color, though brighter than in canescens, or exilipes, 

 never becomes as deep a crimson as is seen in fuscescens, having always more 

 of a rosy tint. It extends along the throat, not however encroaching on the 

 sides of the neck, quite to the dark gular spot, which it does not invade, but 

 extends on the sides of the head almost to the eyes. Along the sides of the 

 body it reaches quite to the tibiae, further than on the middle of the belly. 

 There are no dusky streaks across the breast ; but these extend along the 

 sides. They are pretty numerous, much more so than in exilipes, and quite 

 dark ; but they are illy defined, and mSre or less confluent, lacking the sharp- 

 ness of outline of fuscescens. The under tail coverts have dusky shaft lines. 

 The feet are deep brownish black, moderately long and stout ; the middle toe 

 with its claw about equal to the tarsus. The claws are moderately long, 

 curved and acute, and black. 



Variations by sex, age, fyc. The old males in winter plumage differ from 

 those in summer merely in having the crimson of the crown less intense ; the 

 rosy of the breast and rump lighter and more restricted, the feathers of the 

 breast being tipped with whitish for a greater or less extent ; and in a rather 

 more notable amount of yellowish, especially observable on the rump and sides 

 of the breast. 



The adult females either want entirely, or have but very slight traces of the 

 rosy of the male on the breast and rump. The latter is generally, except in 

 wanting the rosy tint, much as in the male ; but the breast has instead a light 

 dingy yellowish wash, and is streaked quite across with dusky. The female 

 is, moreover, usually smaller than the male. 



1861.] 



