176 Brewster's Descriptions of the First Plumage 



crescentic patch of pale yellow tinged with rose-color upon the breast. 

 Nor is this specimen unique, for I have seen .several others with a similar 

 l>ut less conspicuous mark. It pn_>l>ahly represents an exceptionally high 

 condition or phase of ornamentation, like the commoner one of scarlet or 

 yellow wing-markings, in the Scarlet Tanager (Pyranga rubra). "Very old 

 females of A.phceniceus have the throat a delicate peach-color ; illustrated 

 by several specimens in my cabinet from Nantucket and Ipswich, Mass. 



79. Icterus baltimore. 



First plumage : Top of head, nape, and interscapular region brownish- 

 olive ; wing-bands pale fulvous ; rump, breast, anal region, and crissum 

 olivaceous-yellow; throat dull yellow; abdomen pale buffy-yellow ; 

 patches of ash on the sides. From a specimen in my collection shot in 

 Cambridge, Mass., July 18, 1874. Autumnal adults have the orange-red 

 richer and clearer than in spring, and the wing-quills much more broadly 

 and conspicuously edged with white. Neither wing nor tail feathers are 

 changed during the first moult. 



80. Scolecophagua ferrugineus. 

 Several young birds of both sexes shot at Upton, Me., August 5, 1873, 

 have apparently nearly completed the first moult ; but one, a male, has 

 the head still covered with the feathers of the first plumage, which are of 

 a uniform plumbeous color. All are moulting the wing and tail feathers. 

 In each specimen a worn central pair of rectrices projects about three 

 inches beyond the others, which are of a uniform length, and evidently 

 jusl sprouting. Other individuals seen at the same time were conspicu- 

 ously characterized in the same way, all presenting, when flying, the ap- 

 pearance of birds with long forked tails, the elongated central feathers 

 being slightly spread apart, 



81. Quiscalus purpureus. 

 First plumage: male. Uniform dark plumbeous, darker above, lighter 

 and with a faint brownish edging on the feathers beneath. Sides of 

 throat and a large space around the eyes completely bare of feathers. 

 From a specimen in my collection obtained at Upton, fife., June -2, 1873. 

 Both wing and tail feathers are replaced during the first moult. 



82. Tyrannus carolinensis. 

 First plumage: male. Above uniform dark sooty-brown, with a 

 scarcely appreciable lighter edging on the leathers of the uape. No con- 

 cealed red on the crown. Wing-bands yellowish-white. Breasl Boiled 

 white, with a band of ashy-white across the breast From a specimen in 

 my collection shut at Opton, Me., July 24, 1872. 



83. Sayornis fuscus. 

 I plumage: female. Crown and nape dark sooty-brown. Rest of 



