COLINUS. 



187 



rusty, the sides and flanks striped with rufous. (Adult males of some species with 

 lower parts chiefly uniform cinnamon-rufous.) Adult males with head black, or 

 striped with black and white, or brown and white. Adult females with head striped 

 with brown and ochraceous or buif, the chin and throat entirely of the latter color. 

 JSfest of dried grasses, etc. (sometimes arched over on top), embedded in ground or 

 placed on ground, in meadows, grain-fields, etc. ^ggs numerous (12-upward of 

 20), pyriform-ovate, white, usually more or less stained (adventitiously ?) with light 

 brown. 



a^. Adult males with feathers of sides and flanks rufous edged with white and with 



black line between white and rufous, or else entirely rufous. Adult females 



(except in C. virginianus cubanensis) with feathers of sides and flanks rufous 



edged with white, the two colors separated by a blackish line. 



b^. Adult males with lower parts always whitish, varied with black and rusty 



as above described. 



Adult males : Broad superciliary stripe, and broad patch covering chin, 

 throat, and malar region, white ; rest of head black, sometimes, 

 especially in winter plumage, mixed with or overlaid by brown ;^ 

 sides of neck spotted with white and black, the spots of triangular 

 form. Adult females similar to males, but throat-patch and super- 

 ciliary stripe buff or ochraceous, and the darker stripes of head 

 chiefly brown or rusty. Young : Top of head and ear-coverts dusky 

 slate, or dull grayish ; rest of head dull soiled whitish ; chest and 

 breast dull grayish brown or brownish gray, streaked with whitish ; 

 belly plain white ; back rusty brownish, more or less streaked with 

 whitish and spotted with blackish. Downy young : Head dingy buff, 

 paler, or nearly white, on throat, with a blackish line behind eye 

 and a small spot of same above corner of mouth ; a patch of chestnut 

 on occiput, gradually narrowing anterioi'ly to a line along middle of 

 forehead ; upper parts nearly uniform chestnut ; lower jDarts pale 

 grayish buff, deepening into dull brownish on sides. 

 c^. Feathers of flanks with the black markings narrow, only occasionally, or 

 not at all, interrupting the white edgings ; black markings on breast 

 and belly narrow, always much narrower than the white inter- 

 spaces ; chest usually chiefly, or entirely, light cinnamon. 

 d\ Upper parts with much of rusty, usually with conspicuous large 

 black blotches on scapulars, tertials, and lower back, and with- 

 out very distinct light bars. Adult male usually without a well- 

 defined band of uniform pale cinnamon across the chest, imme- 

 diately beneath the black collar. 

 e^. Larger, with colors averaging lighter, especiallj^ on lower 

 parts, where black markings are narrow and usually de- 



1 Partially melanistic examples sometimes occur in which the throat is partly or even -wholly black. 

 The Ortijx castaneus of Gould was probably based on a specimen of this character. 



