63 



on the breast and belly. The head was bare with the exception of short 

 down on the back part. The bill was still of a dark color, though chang- 

 ing toward reddish. 



On July 30th, when we returned, the bird was in the stump at the 

 butt end of the log: it was easily caught and placed in a position favor- 

 able for photographing, when suddenly it sprang off the log and flew 

 away: its flight was difficult and at no time more than 20 feet above the 

 ground; after flying about 100 yards it alighted on a fence; we at once 

 followed it with the camera, hoping to get close enough to get a good pic- 

 ture, but whenever we approached within about 50 feet it would again 

 fly. We finally secured a picture (Fig. 12) at about 40 feet distance. At 

 this time, 74 days after hatching, the bird was almost entirely black, and 

 fully as large as an adult bird; a little of the white down still remained 

 on the sides, about the neck and legs and on the under sides of the wings; 

 from a distance one would have been unable to distinguish it from an 

 adult. 



