3d8 



U. 8, p. R R EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



List of specimens. 



* Length, 4.25; extenl, 5.75. Tris brown ; bill black ; O^et lead color. 



PSALTRIPAEDS PLUMBEUS, Baird. 



Psallria plumhea, Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, June 1854, 118. Little Colorado. 



Sp. Ch. — Tail long, feathers graduated. Above ratlier light olivaceous cinereous. Top of head rather clearer ; forehead, 

 chin, and sides of head, pale smoky brown. Beneath brownish wliite, scarcely darker on the sides. Length, about 4.20 inches ; 

 wing, 2.15; tail, 2.50. 



Hab. — Southern Rocky mountains. 



This diminutive species has the hill slender, the point of the upper mandible elongatee and 

 gently curved. The tail is long, slightly emarginate, hut graduated on the sides ; the exterior 

 abruptly shorter than the rest, which are rounded more regularly. The greatest difference 

 between the longest and shortest feathers is .45 of an inch. The fifth quill is longest^ the 

 sixth and fourth barely and successively shorter ; the third and eighth about equal ; the second 

 shorter than the secondaries. The entire upper parts are of a bluish ash with an olivaceous 

 shade, rather clearest on the head. The sides of the head and the chin are pale smoky brown ; 

 the forehead is tinged with the same. Tlie under parts are dirty brownish white, lightest on 

 the throat, a little more brown on the sides of the body. The tail feathers and quills are edged 

 externally with the color of the back ; the edges of the third and seventh primaries slightly 

 paler. 



Specimens vary somewhat in the clearness of their tints, which are sometimes a little darker, 

 sometimes lighter. 



This species is very similar to the Psaltriparus minimus of the west coast, which it represents 

 in the Rocky mountain region. It is, however, appreciably larger, the wings and tail propor- 

 tionally longer. The top of the head is plumbeous, uniform with the back, instead of smoky 

 brown. The back is a paler ash, the under parts darker. 



The specimens collected by Messrs. Kennerly and Mollhausen are labelled differently as 

 respects the color of tliu iris, .some l)eing marked as yellow, otliers as black. I find no other 

 appreciable difference, however, between them. 



