44 



ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 



Blue phase. 



Adult: Head and neck rich purplish-maroon, with a glaucous cast, the feathers more chestnut 

 beneath the surface ; rest of tlie pliuuage uniform dark bluish-plumbeous, the plumes with a 

 glaucous cast, the maroon and phunbeous gradually blended. In breeding season, bill ultramarine- 

 blue at the base, the end black ; lores and eyelids ultramarine-blue ; iris pale yellow ; tibia;, tarsi. 



and toes black (Audubon). In anfnmn, bill light plumbeous on the basal half, the terminal half 

 black ; lores and eyelid.s very pale dull greenish ; iris sulphur yellow ; legs and feet uniform pea- 

 green, darker at the joints. ^ Youwj : Similar in color to the adult, but with less developed plumes, 

 or with none at all ; the head and neck more plumbeous. 



Ficd, or intermediate, fhase. 



The plumage mixed white and plumbeous, in projiortion varying with the individual, forming 

 a series connecting unbrokenly the two extremes described above. 



Many specimens show an irregular admixture of blue and white in the plumage ; but seldom, 

 so far as we have observed, is there any of the maroon color, seen on the head and neck in the perfect 

 plumage ; these parts being, in particolored birds, usually tinged with a pearly-gray or bluish. The 

 comparative amount of the l)lue and white varies, of course, with the individual. A male from 

 Florida (No. 84591), apparently adult, though not in full breeding plumage, appears at first sight 

 to be entirely ])ure white, with the exception of the usual blue on the ends of the primaries. A 

 close inspection, however, shows that the feathers of the pileum and nape, as well as those of the 

 whole back and anterior lesser wing-coverts, are more or less strongly tinged, mostly beneath the 

 surface, with pale pearl-blue or glaucous ; this tinge, particularly on the dor.sal region, partaking 

 of the character of minute, more or less densely-sprinkled, dots. 



No. 60319, from Porto Rico, an adult witli perfectly developed jilumes, is white, the pileum, 

 nape, and back washed with pearl-blue, the long back-plumes deeper blue, with the terminal 

 third or more white, finely and sparsely sprinkled with blue. Several of the slender occipital 

 ]>lumes are maroon-puride. One of the secondaries, on each side, has the outer web nearly uniform 

 blue, and the inner web sprinkled with the same. 



No. 39650, from the same locality, is pure wdiite, with the long dorsal plumes and many of the 

 feathers of the back luiiform dark plumI)eous-blue, the head and neck purplish-blue, the throat 

 and foreneck white. There is scarcely a trace of blue on the ends of the primaries ; but as these 

 are much abraded terminally, it is proljable that the spots of this color are worn off. 



No. 72892, Jacksonville, Florida, has the plumage pied blue and wlute, in irregular blotches 

 and patches, the two colors nearly etjual in extent. 



No. 70687 Demerara, is mostly blue, with the throat and foreneck medially, some of the 

 jugular plumes, and a few of the wing coverts, white, the latter mostly finely sprinkled with bluish. 

 In this specimen the white of the throat is almost as abruptly defined and conspicuous as in adult 

 Hydranassa tricolor. 



1 From a fresh specimen, killed August 6, near Washington, D. C. 



