BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 



575 



SPOROPHILA MORELLETI (Bonaparte). 

 MORELLET'S SEEDEATER. 



Adult male. — Pileum. sides of head, hindneck. back, scapulars, wings, 

 upper tail-coverts, tail, and broad Ijand across chest, uniform deep 

 black; chin, throat, sides of neck, under parts posterior to black jugular 

 area, axillars, under wing-coverts, basal portion of remiges, tips of 

 middle and greater (sometimes also of lesser) wing-coverts, spot at base 

 of sixth to lirst primaries, bases of secondaries (mostl}" concealed by 

 greater coverts), and broad tips to feathers of rump, white; bill black 

 or dusky; legs and feet dusky brownish; length (skins), 93.47-112.27 

 (lUl.35); wing, 47.75-54.61 (51.05); tail, 40.18-47.24 (43.69); exposed 

 culmen, 8.13-9.14 (8.64); depth of bill at base, 6.86-8.13 (7.37); tarsus, 

 14.22-16.51 (15.49): middle toe, 10.41-12.19 (11.18).' 



Adult female. — Above plain olive-brown or olivaceous hair brown, 

 slightly paler and browner or more butfy on rump; wings dusky with 

 brown edgings, the middle and greater coverts tipped with white or 

 buffy, forming t\^o distinct bands; beneath uniform light bufl'y wood 

 brown or dull buffy; axiUars and under wing-coverts pale buffy or 

 buffy whitish: l)ill l)rown, the mandible paler; legs and feet brownish; 

 length (skins), 94.49-108.71 (101.35); wing, 48.01-51.31 (49.78); tail, 

 38.61-45.21 (42.42); exposed culmen, 8.13-8.89 (8.64); depth of bill 

 at base, 7.37-8.13 (7.62); tarsus, 15.24-16.00 (15.49): middle toe, 

 10.67-11.43 (10.92).' 



^ Forty-seven specimens. 



^Ten specimens. 



Average measurements of specimens from different districts are as follows: 



I find myself unable to subdivide this species satisfactorily. It is true specimens 

 representing the fully adult male plumage described above are wanting in the series 

 from the State of Tamaulipas and the adjacent parts of Texas; but males from that 

 district agree exactly in plumage with immature males from more southern localities, 

 and I believe that fully adult males have simply not yet been taken in the region 

 designated. 



