1 20 Bird of WashifigtorL 



dible 3f in., dark bluish black. It is, however, the same 

 colour for half its length, turning into yellow towards the 

 mouth, which is surrounded with a thick yellow skin. Mouth 

 blue; tongue the same; cere greenish yellow; eye large, of a 

 fine chestnut colour, iris black, the whole protected above 

 by a broad, strong, bony, cartilaginous substance, giving the eye 

 the appearance of being much sunk. Lores lightish blue, 

 with much strong recumbent hair ; upper part of the head, 

 neck, back, scapulars, rump, tail coverts, femorals, and tail 

 feathers, dark coppery glossy brown ; throat, front of the 

 neck, breast, and belly, rich bright cinnamon colour; the 

 feathers of the whole of which are long, narrow, sharp- 

 pointed, of a hairy texture, each dashed along the centre 

 with the brown of the back ; the wings, when closed, reach 

 within an inch and a half of the end of the tail feathers, 

 which are very broad next the body. Lesser coverts rusty 

 iron grey, forming with that colour an elongated oval, reach- 

 ing from the shoulders to the lower end of the secondaries, 

 gradually changing to the brown of the back as it meets the 

 scapulars. The secondaries of the last middle tint. Primaries 

 brown, darkest in their inner veins, very broad and firm ; the 

 outer one 2 J in. shorter than the second, the longest 24« in. to 

 its root, and about half an inch in diameter at the barrel. The 

 -under wing coverts iron grey, very broad, and forming the 

 same cavity that is apparent in all of this genus with the sca- 

 pulars, which also are very broad. Legs and feet strong and 

 muscular : the former 1 J in. in diameter; the latter measuring, 

 from the base of the hind claw to that of the middle toe, 6Jin. 

 Claws strong, much hooked, the hind one 2 in. long, the inner 

 rather less, all blue black and glossy. Toes warty, with rasp- 

 like advancing hard particles, covered with large scales appear- 

 ing again on the front of the leg, all of dirty strong yellow. L,eg 

 feathers brown cinnamon, pointed backwards. Vomiting powers 

 not exhibited, as in owls. The two stomachs large and baggy. 

 In the specimens now described, the contents of both, fish and 

 fishes' scales, mixed with different entrails. Guts large, but 

 transparent and thin of substance. Heart and liver very large, 

 the sinews of the first tough and stiff. The sex well ascer- 

 tained at the time the bird was killed. 



From the above account it will be seen that the bit'd here 

 described and faithfully figured from a fresh-killed specimen, 

 is a very scarce species, even in those parts where it is a 

 native ; and, that it is rarely met with, the few opportunities I 

 have had of seeing it, the dates of which I have generally 

 given, are a sufficient proof. 



London, April, 1828. John J, Audubon. 



