COLLURIO. 447 



tip only white, the rest are entirely black, except their concealed bases, which 

 in all the feathers are white. 



(No. 38,423.) Total length, 8.50 ; wing, 4.0.5 ; tail, 4.25, its graduation, 

 1.00 ; exposed portion of 1st primary, 1.50, of 2d, 2.(50, of longest (measured 

 from exposed base of 1st primary), 2.95 ; length of bill from forehead, .83, 

 from nostril, .48, along gape, .95, depth, .33; tarsus, 1.12; middle toe and 

 claw, .77, claw alone, .28; hind toe and claw, .64, claw alone, .32. 



Young birds are marked very much as those of C. ludovicianus, 

 already described. There does not seem to be much difference in 

 color between the sexes. Winter specimens appear inclined to a 

 reddish tinge and obscure waves of dusky. 



The specimen described (No. 38,423) presents an extreme amount 

 of white on the wings and tail. More frequently there is a rectangular 

 patch of black on the inner web of outer tail feather (usually at 

 distal end of basal half), and generally visible at the tips of under 

 tail coverts, which becomes larger and larger in the next two 

 feathers ; the fourth, and sometimes fifth, with a narrow tip only of 

 white. Scarcely any two specimens, however, agree exactly in this 

 amount of black ; in all, the extreme bases of the quills are white, 

 excepting the innermost, which usually are black, unless when the 

 white on the ends of the lateral tail feathers is of more than usual 

 extent. 



In iSo. 38,420 the white of inner webs of secondaries is purer, 

 and on the more exterior reaches to the shaft on the basal third, 

 then passing off obliquely behind to the inner edge of the quill, not 

 transversely. The other charactei's are much as described. This 

 amount of white on the secondaries is, however, but seldom met with. 



No. 5,066, from Donana, X M., has the hoary front so light as 

 to appear in very abrupt contrast against the dusky stripe through 

 the eye. 



In No. 8,721, from near San Francisco, the colors are much 

 darker than as described, the plumbeous of upper parts being as 

 dark as in ludovicianus, and without any hoariness on forehead 

 and side of vertex ; more as in elegans. 



In general, specimens from the California coast are considerably 

 darker than those from the Plains, very similar in color to C. ludo- 

 vicianus ; the hoariness of forehead greatly reduced, sometimes 

 scarcely appreciable. The sides and axillars are more plumbeous ; 

 less, however, than in ludovicianus, and the upper tail coverts are 

 always considerably and appreciably lighter than the back. 



Cape St. Lucas specimens are rather darker, especially on the 



