732 



BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



auricular region, uniform glossy black with a faint greenish blue 

 luster; rest of upper parts uniform bluish slate-gray or plumbeous; 

 wings dull or brownish slate color with pale gray edgings; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail black, the outermost rectrix with outer web white, 

 except basally, the inner web broadly tipped (for about 5-10 mm.) 

 with white, the second more narrowly tipped with white and with 

 outer web narrowly edged with the same; eyelids sometimes (usually?) 

 partly white, but never (?) forming a continuous orbital ring; sides of 

 head (below the black pileum) and under parts gra3'ish white, becom- 

 ing pure white on abdomen, anal region, and under tail-coverts; max- 

 illa black; mandible blackish terminally, dusky grayish basally (in 

 dried skins); iris brown; legs and feet dusky (in dried skins). 



Adult male in axutximn and winter. — Similar to the spring and sum- 

 mer plumage but black feathers of pileum more or less tipped with 

 slate-gra}'. 



Adidt female.- — Pileum and hindneck plain slate-gray; back, scapu- 

 lars, lesser wing- coverts, and rump more brownish gray varying to 

 hair-brown; otherwise similar to the adult male. 



Young female., first j)luniage. — "Crown pale cinereous; rest of 

 upper parts faded brown. The wings are uniform with the back, 

 but all the primaries and secondaries have a broad white edging on 

 their outer webs. The tail is dull black, with white areas on the outer 

 rectrices corresponding in extent and purity with those of the adult. 

 Beneath, pale ashy white."" 



Adult male.— Length (skins), 95-110(102.4); wing, 45-48.5 (46.3); 

 tail, 47-53.5 (50.1); exposed culmen, 8.5-10(9.1); tarsus, 16-18.5 (17.2); 

 middle toe, 8-9.5 (8.6).* 



Adult feraale.— 'Length (skins), 98-107 (103.2); wing, 44-47.5 (46.2); 

 tail, 47.5-53 (49.7); exposed culmen, 8.5-10 (8.8); tarsus, 16.5-18 

 (17.7); middle toe, 8-9 (8.6).^ 



« Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vii, 78. 



& Twenty-three specimens. 



(^ Eleven specimens. 



Specimens from different geographic areas average, separately, as follows: 



Locality. 



MALES. 



Six adult males from southern Texas and Tamaulipas 



Ten adult males from .\nzona and Sonora 



One adult male from San Diego County, California . . . 

 Six adult males from Cape district, Lower California . 



FEMALES. 



One adult female from Tamaulipas 



Eight adult females from Arizona 



Three adult females from Cape district 



17.4 

 16.7 

 18 

 17.6 



17.5 

 17.2 

 17.7 



Middle 

 toe. 



8.7 

 8.3 

 9 

 9 



9 

 8.6 



8.7 



