498 



U. S p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



Female, without the white of quills, tail, and rump, and without any hiack or red. Above yellowish brown streaked with 

 darker ; head with a central stripe above, and a superciliary on each sice, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on 

 the breast and sides. Under wing coverts and axillars sallVon yellow. Length, 8,50 inches ; wing, 4.15. 



Hob. — Eastern United States to the Missouri plains, south to Guatemala. 



In the male the black feathers of the back and sides of the neck have a subterminal white bar. 

 There are a few black spots on the sides of the breast jnst below the red. 



The young male of the year is like the female, except in having the axillarfes, under wing 

 coverts, and a trace of a patch on the breast, light rose red. 



The tint of carmine on the under parts varies a good deal in different specimens. 



List of specimens. 



Locality. 



Selkirk Setllem't, H.B.T. 



Carlisle, Pa 



do 



do 



do 



do 



Independence, Mo 



do 



When col- 

 lected. 



Whence obtained. 



, Donald Gunn 



Sept. 3, 1845 S. F. Baird 



Sept. —,1840 i do 



Sept. 16,18-ia do 



April28,I815 do 



May 1U,1844 , do 



June 18,1857 i Wm. M.M.igraw.. 

 May 29,1857' do 



St. Louis, Mo 



Vennilion river.... 

 Ponka Island, Neb. 

 Running Water.... 



Bijou Hill, Neb 



Guatemala..., 



May 12,1857 ] Lieut. F. T. Biyan.. 

 Sept. 8, 1856 Lieut. O. K. Warren 



May 10,1856 do 



May 12,1856 do 



May 16,1856 ' do 



' J. Gould 



Grig. 



No. 



35 



Collected by — 1 Length. I Stretch 

 lofwings, 



Dr. Cooper.. 

 do 



W.S. Wood.... 

 Dr. P V. llayden 

 do 



.do., 

 .do., 



8.00 

 8.00 

 8.42 

 8.00 

 7.37 



7.37 

 7.87 

 8.12 

 8.25 



12.75 

 12.75 

 13.08 



12. as 



12.00 



12.12 

 12.50 

 12.50 

 12.62 



Wing. 



4.00 

 4.17 

 4.25 



4.00 Iris brown ; bill black 

 and white; feetgrny. 



3.12 

 3.87 

 3..'J0 

 4.13 



GUIRACA MELANOCEPHALA, Sw. 



Black-headed Grosbeak. 



Gittroco melanocephala, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 438.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 503. 



CoccothrausUn melanocephala, Rich. List, Pr. Brit. Ass. for 183G, 1837. 



FringUla melanocephala, Avd. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 519 ; pi. 373. 



Coccobvrus melanocephalus. Alio. Synopsis, 1839, 133 — Ib. Birds Amcr. Ill, 1841, 214 ; pi. 206. 



Gonittphca melanoceplialay Sclater? 



I ledijmelcs melanocephala, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 153. 



FringUla xanlhomaschalis, Wacler, Isis, 1831, .'525. 



Pitylus guilulus. Lesson, Rev. Zool. 11, 1839, 102. 



?Guiraca tricolor. Lesson, Rev. Zool. II, 1839, 102. 



gp.Cii. — Head above and on the sides, with chin, back, wings, and tail, black. A broad median stripe on the crown, a stripe 

 behind the eye, a well marked collar on the hind neck all round, edges of inteiscapular feathers, rump, and under parts generally 

 pale brownish orange, almost light cinnamon. Middle of belly, axillaries, and under wing coverts, yellow. Belly just anterior 

 to the anus, under tail coverts, a large blotch at the end of the inner wobs of first and second tail feathers, a band across the 

 middle and greater wing cover'.s, some spots on the ond.s of the tertiaries, the basal portions of all the (|uill.s, and the outer 

 three primaries near the tips, white. 



Female similar, with less black ; wings and tail more olivaceous, the latter unspotted ; the black of the head anteriorly 

 replaced by whitish. The under wing coverts bright yellow. Length of male, nearly 8 inches ; wing, 4.25 ; tail, 3.50. 



]Iah, — High Central Plains from Yellowstone to the Pacific. Tabic lands of Mexico. 



This species has the bill similar to that of G, ludoviciana, a little more swollen, perhaps, and 

 of a blacki.sli cohir. Tlie .second (luill is longest, tiien tlie third, fourth, and first. Tlie tail is 

 slightly emarginate and rounded. 



