178 [October, 



Female resembles the male, but its colors are less brilliant and marked. 



The young bird has the back and tail of a dusky brown, each feather being 

 fringed with a narrow border of lighter shade. Primaries and tertiaries, edged 

 with white. Breast, yellowish white, covered with a broad band of dusky black 

 extending down to the thighs ; these feathers being often edged with light clay- 

 ish color. Moustache and auriculars, dusky brown. 



I saw this bird twice on the vast plains of New Mexico, near the United 

 States line, before procuring it, flying over the prairies in search of small birds 

 and mice, and at times hovering, as is the wont of our common sparrow hawk, 

 {Tin. sparverius.) We possess little information relative to its habits from those 

 authors who have written on this bird. It appears to be a resident of Surinam, 

 Cayenne, Brazil, Chili and other portions of South America, and is used in Chili 

 for hunting the partridge. Besides this species, the American Ibis {Ibis Mexi- 

 eannSf) also from South America, comes yearly to incubate in California; and 

 further researches will doubtless still add to our fauna from that country and 

 Mexico. 



Genus PHALACROCORAX, Briss. 



Phat.acrocorax penicillatus. Brandt. Brandt's Cormorant. 



The specimens in my collection, captured on the Ferrea Leones Islands, are, 

 I take it, the same as that described by Brandt under the above title. Not 

 having the work in which he describes the P. penicillatus, I have resorted, for 

 the purpose of comparison, to a specimen so labelled, and purporting to come 

 from North America, in the Museum of the Academy of Nat. Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia. They tally exactly in their color and markings, though they differ in 

 size. The tail is greyish black, composed of twelve feathers. Feet, black. Bill, 

 dusky, but of a lighter color towards base of lower mandible. Gular sac, blue, 

 and at its base, a gorgelet of dirty white. Plumage of back of head, sides of 

 neck and to the middle of the back, interspersed with white linear feathers, 

 varying from two lines to two inches in length. Head, neck and abdomen, black, 

 with glossy reflections of green and blue. Back, black, with glossy green re- 

 flections, each feather being margined with a narrow fringe of bluish black. 



Dimensions of the Academy's specimen. Length, 24 inches. From flexure to 

 tip of wing, 10 inches. From point of bill to angle of mouth, 3j inches. Length 

 of outer toe, 3 3-8ths inches ; of second toe, 3 inches ; of inner toe, 1 j in. 



Dimensions of my specimen. Length, 28 inches. From flexure to tip of wing, 

 Hi inches. From point of bill to an^le of mouth, 4 in. Length of outer toe, 

 3| in. ; second toe, 3| in. ; inner toe, \\ in.^ 



The bill in my specimen is stouter, the gular sac extends further down the 

 throat, and the bare space around the eye is larger. Both specimens are in full 

 spring plumage. 



Late in June, these birds were quite numerous at the west end of the island, 

 and did not appear to associate with the other species; but flocking together on 

 the most elevated rocks, passed the after part of the day in a state of repose, the 

 morning having been employed in pursuit of fish, upon which they prey. This 

 bird was not incubating at that period, as was the P. Townsendii and P. splen- 

 dens. 



Genus ACTIDURUS, Bonap. 



Actidurtjs n^vius, nobis. Mottled Grass Plover. 



Form. Bill, slender, as long as the head ; culmen, straight ; sides, compressed 

 towards the tip, which is slightly curved ; nostrils, linear. Wings, pointed, 

 reaching to the end of the tail, the first primary being the longest. Tail, long, 

 broad and rounded, the central feathers longest. Tarsae and toes long. Claws, 

 short and acute. 



The feathers of the upper parts, black in their centre, with broad margins of 

 light yellowish brown. Primaries, brown, the ends being black, narrowly tipped 

 with white. Under surface, white, becoming mottled with black 2J inches from 

 their termini, which there change to a grayish hue. Under wing coverts, black, 

 spotted with a very faint yellowish ochre and tipped with white. Under parts, 



