168 PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



more purplish on the back, rump, and upper tail-covert;;, aud of a rich 

 dark purplish maroon shade on the breast and sides; anal region, tibiae, 

 and crissum duller and more grayish. Remiges (except the tertials) pale 

 yellowish pea-green, bordered terminally with dull dusky, this border 

 very narrow, and strictly terminal on the secondaries, but broader and 

 involving more or less of both edges of the quills on the primaries, where 

 it increases in extent to the outer quill, which has the entire outer web 

 hlackish ; alulne and primary coverts dull blackish. Tail-featiiers uni- 

 form rich chestnut. " Iris dark brown ; bill, alar spurs, and (rental leaf, 

 bright yellow; upper base of bill bluish white, the space between ii and 

 the nasal leaf bright carmine; feet greenish" (Sumichrast, MS., ^'<?e 

 Lawr., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 4, 187G, p. 50). 



Young : Frontal leaf rudimentary. Pileum grayish brown, bord( red 

 on each side by a wide aud conspicuous superciliary stripe of buffy 

 white, extending to the occiput ; below this stripe, another narrower 

 one of black or dusky, beginning at the posterior angle of tbe eye and 

 extending along the upper edge of the auriculars to the nape, which is 

 also of this color; remainder of the head, with tbe entire lower |)arts, 

 except the sides, continuous bufify white, more strongly tinged with bufi 

 across the jugulum. Upper parts in general (except the remiges) light 

 grayish-brown, the feathers bordered terminally with rusty buff in the 

 younger stage, but uniform in older individuals; rump more or less 

 tinged with chestnut. Sides and lining of the wing dusky black, but 

 in older examples more or less tinged with chestnut. Remiges as in the 

 adult; rectrices grayish-brown. 



The downy youi;g is unknown, or at least if describtd I have been 

 unable to find out where. 



In the considerable series of specimens of this species contained in 

 the collection of the National Museum, notable variations in size and 

 proportions occur among specimens of the same age and sex, but 

 apparently without regard to locality. Cuban specimens do not differ 

 in tbe least from Mexican and Central American examples. 



The following note was published in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Orni- 

 thological Club, vol. i, p. 88. I have nothing to add to ir, except that 

 during a recent visit to Washington Mr. Ridgway showed me soa^e 

 skins of this curious bird, and I was enabled to positively identify them 

 with the birds 1 saw: — -'Early in August (1876) I saw a pair of water- 

 birds quite new to me on the borders of a lagoon near Fort Brown. 

 I was on horseback at the time, and did not have my gun, but had a 

 good opportunity to observe them carefully. The next day 1 winged 

 one of them, but it fell into a dense bed of water-plants, and could not 

 be found, and the survivor disappeared. Respecting a letter describ- 

 ing the bird as seen, Mr. Riiigway writes: 'The bird you describe is un- 

 doubtedly Parra gymnosioma • * * * the chestnut back and yellow 

 (greenish yellow) wings settle the species beyond a doubt.' " 



