440 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



are slighth' duller and more worn. In the adult males the longer under 

 tail-coverts are distinctly spotted with black, in the two brighter 

 females they are indistinctly clouded with dusky, while in the rest 

 of the series these feathers are immaculate. 



Turning now to the young birds, it i evident that their peculiar 

 mottled plumage, so well illustrated in the plate of this species {A7(k, 

 \TII, 1S91, pi. I), is the result of a limited prenuptial moult, affecting 

 the body-plumage to a greater or less extent, and frerpiently also 

 some of the wing-coverts, remiges, and rectrices, as shown by the 

 series before me. This moult averages more extensive in males than 

 in females, the former showing more of the new black feathers above 

 and on the throat and breast, although this replacement varies con- 

 siderably in different individuals, no two of which are alike in this 

 respect. 



I note that the single specimen from Abaco (No. 31035, immature 

 male, April 24) is somewhat more deeply colored (more saffron yellow 

 below and less grayish above) than the rest of the series. This bears 

 out Mr. Cory's remark {Auk, VIII, 1891, 350), presumably based on 

 adult birds, but an examination of the single adult male from Abaco 

 now in the Field Museum collection fails to confirm this statement. 



The nearest relative of this species seems to be Icterus prosthemelas 

 (Strickland) of Central America, but it will be noted that in first 

 nuptial plumage the two species are quite unlike, due to the dif- 

 ference in the extent of the prenuptial moult. Icterus northropi is 

 unfortunately as yet unknown in juvenal dress, and it would certainly 

 be interesting to learn how it compares with its allies at this more 

 primitive stage. 



79. Spindalis zena zena (Linnaeus). 



Twelve specimens: New Providence (Blue Hills). 



Individual variation affects the amount of chestnut tinge on the 

 breast, of black on the tips of the outer rectrices, and of dark shading 

 or streaking on the sides and flanks. One of the above specimens 

 approaches the phase of plumage called Spindalis zena " stejnegeri" 

 in this latter respect. 



80. Spindalis zena townsendi Ridgway. 

 Ten specimens: Abaco (Sand Bank). 

 " Iris dark hazel." 



Although taken several months later in the season than the New 



