690 



BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



})y white; liindneck slaty black or blackish slate, passiiio; into plain 

 slate color or blackish slate on sides of neck, back, rump, scapulars, 

 and lesser wing-coverts, the feathers of lower rump more or less dis- 

 tinctly margined terminally with pale gray or grayish wliite; upper 

 tail-coverts black, margined, more or less broadly, with white; tail 

 black, abruptly tipped with white, the lateral rectrices margined with 

 white for some distance from tip, especially the exterior one; wings 

 dusky, the middle and greater coverts and secondaries edged with 

 white, the primary coverts and primaries more narrowly edged with 

 pale gray; malar region and under parts white, the chest shaded, 

 more or less strongly, with gray, the sides of chest with a distinct gray 

 patch; axillars light gray margined terminally with wliite; under 

 wing-coverts white or yellowish white terminally, pale brownish gray 

 basally, those along edge of wing dusky broadly margmed with white; 

 bill black, the mandible slightly brownish basally; iris brown; legs 

 and feet brownish black; length (skins), 177-214 (182); wing, 111-125 

 (118.7); tail, 75.5-90 (84.8) ; exposed culmen, 16.5-19.5 (17.6); tarsus, 

 17.5-19.5 (18.6); middle toe, 13.5-15 (14.2).« 



Adult female. — Similar to the male, but orange or orange-red crown- 

 patch smaller and tips of longer primaries less attenuated; length 

 (skins), 183-208 (190); wing, 109.5-117.5 (114); tail, 72-83 (79.5); 

 exposed culmen, 16.5-18.5 (17.5); tarsus, 16.5-19.5 (18.3); middle 

 toe, 12.5-15 (14.3).^ 



Young. — Essentially, like adults, but color of upper parts dark sooty 

 gray or ])rownish slate, darker on head, the crown without orange or 



a Twenty specimens (none from Florida included). 

 6 Nine specimens (none from Florida included) . 



The difference in size of the bill between Florida breeding birds and those from other 

 parts of the country is not sufficiently constant nor great enough, in the absence of 

 other characters, to justify subspecific separation of the former. Such, at least, is the 

 writer's opinion. 



