154 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



just behind this, the two or three elongated lateral upper tail-coverts are marked with a 

 central stripe of deep fulvous, falling gracefully over the sides of the crissum. Tertials and 

 posterior scapulars intense black, with rich velvety reflections of blue, green, and purplo 

 (chiefly the first), in certain lights; the longest tertial tipped with a wide bar of white, the 

 next black to the end, the third much shorter, much narrower than the rest, pointed, and 

 of a dull greenish-bronze color; 1 middle and greater wing-coverts steel-blue, narrowly 

 tipped with black; secondaries ("speculum") purplish steel-blue, narrowly tipped with 

 white, and with a narrow sub-terminal black bar; primary-coverts slate-color; primaries 

 with the exposed ends of the inner webs steel-blue, the ends of the outer webs grayish or 

 glaucous-white, becoming slate-color basally; lining of the wing spotted with slate-color 

 and white. Sagittate longitudinal space on the culmen, and terminal "nail" of the bill deep 

 polished black; an oblong space of milk-white from nostril to the 'nail;" a line or border 

 of gamboge-yellow following the basal outline of the bill; rest of bill dark purplish red, 

 deepening into scarlet just behind the nostril. Iris bright orange-red; eyelids deep ver- 

 milion; legs and feet dull chrome-yellow, the webs and joints dusky. 2 Total length, about 

 19.00 inches; extent, 29.00; wing, 9.00-9.50; culmen, 1.40; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, 1.70. Adult 

 female: Feathers bordering the base of the bill all round, a space on side of the head sur- 

 rounding the eyes and extending backward in a point toward the occiput, chin, and whole 

 throat white; remainder of the head plumbeous or slate-gray, the crown and slight occip- 

 ital crest glossed with metallic green; chest brownish, the feathers marked centrally with 

 fulvous-buff, those toward the breast tipped with white; remaining lower parts white, the 

 crissum freckled with dusky grayish, the sides and flanks raw-umber brown, spotted with 

 brownish white; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts hair-brown, glossed, in certain lights, 

 with bronze and reddish purple; tail brightly glossed with greenish bronze; scapulars and 

 tertials olive-brown, richly glossed with reddish purple and bronze; wings as in the 

 adult male, but secondaries more widely tipped with white, and the four upper greater- 

 coverts rich metallic reddish purple, more bluish in the centre, bronzy toward the edge 

 and base, and narrowly tipped with velvety black. Bill dark plumbeous, the nail and lon- 

 gitudinal space on the culmen black; eyelids chrome-yellow; iris raw -sienna; legs and 

 feet yellowish brown. 3 Total length, about 17.75 inches; extent, 28.00; wing, 8.50; culmen, 

 1.30; tarsus, 1.35; middle toe, 1.60. Downy young: Above, deep hair-brown, darker, or 

 clove-brown, on the pileum and tail; a dingy whitish bar along the posterior border of the 

 arm-wing, and a roundish spot of the same on each side of the rump. Lores, superciliary 

 stripe extending back nearly to the occiput, with lateral and under parts of the head gen- 

 erally, bright sulphury-buff, crossed by a wide stripe of blackish brown extending from 

 the occiput forward to the eye; remaining lower parts dingy white, the sides brownish, 

 this crossed on the flanks by an indistinct whitish bar. 4 



1 There is in this species a very strange and probably altogether peculiar arrangement 

 of the tertials, longer scapulars, and inner secondaries, both as to form and colors. The 

 exposed surface of the first appears continuously intense black, as described above; but 

 upon lifting the feathers it is seen that between each two there is a concealed one of differ- 

 ent form and <5olor— narrow and pointed, instead of broad and nearly truncated, and dull 

 bronzy, instead of deep black. Of these bronzy feathers, only the last (or the longest scap- 

 ular) has its tip exposed; the innermost secondary is the longest, and is entirely intense 

 black to the tip ; the next is very much (nearly an inch) shorter, entirely concealed, and 

 also wholly black; the third is little, if any, shorter than the first, but is marked at the end 

 by a broad bar of pure white; the fourth is a little shorter, without any white at the tip, 

 and the outer web chiefly reddish purple; this, like the third, bas the outer web much 

 widened terminally. 



2 Fresh colors of a specimen killed October 19, at Mount Carmel, 111. 



3 Fresh colors of a specimen killed October 14, at Mount Carmel, 111. 



* Described from No. 84,725, obtained at Mount Carmel, 111., July 17, 1871. 



