Ornithological Notes, 383 



L. exilijjes, and the man who discriminated it deserves all 

 credit. The points o£ distinction are: — (1) difference in 

 voice ; (2) its spotless rump ; (3) its white unstreaked under 

 tail-coverts ; (4) the few and narrow streaks on the flanks ; 

 (5) the very pale blush-red breast and rump^ contrasted with 

 the vivid red of L. linaria ; (6) the very broad white edgings 

 to the tertials and tail-feathers ; (7) the very much whiter or 

 mealy tone of the upper plumage ; (8) the most decidedly 

 smaller and shorter bill. 



Now I think half this number of distinctive points would 

 be ample to separate any small bird from another ; and 

 all the points I have noted are good ones. One Sunday a 

 number of L. exilipes came and settled in a tamarac or larch 

 tree, about five yards from my bedroom window. I examined 

 them for some time as they fed on the cones, and they closely 

 resembled the specimen I have, but I did not observe any 

 with the pale rosy tint on the breast. We searched hard for 

 them the next day, but not one was to be seen. 



Last winter I went to Hamilton to examine a pair of the 

 Greenland Redpole, L. hornemanni, killed in January 1860, 

 near Gait, which is about 35 miles from here ; they are now in 

 the possession of Mr. T. Mcllwraith, who bas mounted them 

 beautifully. From the difference in size, they appear to be 

 male and female. The male looks about one third larger 

 than my L. exilipes, of similar white mealy plumage, but has 

 not the broad white edgings to the tail-feathers, the tail being 

 more like that of the ordinary Mealy Kedpole, as far as 

 amount of white edging is concerned. The bird is very grey- 

 and- white all over, with a few streaks about the breast of a 

 greyish brown, and very few narrow pale ones on the flanks ; 

 there is the faintest possible rosy blush on the breast, like 

 that observable on old examples of the Mealy Redpole which 

 have passed their red stage. The females of the latter have 

 also sometimes this faint pink blush, as well as those minute 

 specks of reddish brown on the cheeks. The lower back of 

 the large Greenland bird is very white, with one or two pale 

 grey-brown dashes on the upper tail-coverts. The bill is 

 the full size of that of the ordinary Mealy Redpole. The 



