BIRDS. 13 



legs and toes pale falvoue, usually unspotted, but frequently with irregular narrow transverse stripes uf dark brown. Eye nearly 

 encircled with black ; other feathers of the face ashy white, with minute lines of black ; ear tufts brownish black, edged with 

 fulvous and ashy white ; quills pale fulvous at their bases, with irregular transverse bauds of brown ; inferior coverts of the wing 

 pale fulvous, frequently nearly white; the larger widely tipped with black ; tail brown, with several irregular transverse bands 

 of ashy fulvous, which are mottled as on the quills ; bill and claws dark ; irides yellow. 

 Total length, female, about fifteen inches ; wing 1 1 to 11 ^ ; tail 6 inches. Male, rather smaller. 



No. 9144. Cochetope Pass. (23.) No. 9145. Rio Grande valley. (23.) 



ATHENE CUNICULARIA, Molina, (p. 60.)— Burrowing Owl. 



Striz cunicularia, Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chili, (1782.) 



Sp. Ch. — Resembling A. hypugaea, but larger; tarsus longer, and more fully feathered in front to the toes. 



Adult. — Upper parts light ashy brown, with large spots of dull white enclosed in edgings of brownish black. Throat white; a 

 transverse band of brownish black and reddish white feathers across the neck in front, succeeded by a large patch of white. 

 Breast light brown, with large spots of white like the upper parts ; abdomen yellowish white, with hastate or crescent-shaped 

 spots of reddish brown disposed to form transverse bands ; under tail coverts, tibiae, and tarsus, and under wing coverts, yellowish 

 white; quills and tail light brown, with spots of reddish white, edged (the spots) with brownish black ; tail with about six trans- 

 verse bands or pairs of spots of reddish white, enclosed or edged with dark brown. 



No. 9168. Uncompagre river, Utah. (27.) Iris greenish yellow. 



CHORDEILES HENRYI, Cassin, (p. 153.)— Western Night-Hawk. 



Plate XVII. 



Chordeiles hcnriji, Cassin, Illustrations, I, Jan. 1855, 233. 

 Sp. Ch. — Female similar to C. virginianus, but the upper parts much more mottled and more rufous. The males lighter. 



6698. Rio Grande valley. (10.) 



SI ALIA ARCTICA, Swain son, (p. 224.)— Arctic Bluebird. 



Plate XXXV. 



Erylhaca arctica, Rich. & Sw., P. B. A. 11, 1831, 209; pi. xxxix. 

 Sp. Ch. — Entirely blue ; paler beneath ; the belly and under tail coverts white. 



No. 7606. Cochetope Pass, (20.) 



EREMOPHILA CORNUTA, Boie, (p. 403.)— Sky Lark. 

 Plate XXXII. 



The figure on the jilate is taken from a specimen collected in Utah Territory by Captain 

 Stansbury, (No. 3702,) and supposed at one time to be the Otocoris occidentalis of Colonel McCall. 

 A subsequent examination of a large series of western specimens rendered it very doubtful 

 whether there is really any such species, as distinguished by a white chin and throat from the 

 UremojoJdla cornuta. 



XANTHOCEPHALUS ICTEROCEPHALUS, Baird, (p, 531.)— Yellow-headed Blackbird. 



Icterus icteroccphalus, Bonap. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 27 ; pi. ill. 



Sp. Ch. — First quill nearly as long as the second and third, (longest,) decidedly longer than the third. Tail rounded, or 

 slightly graduated. General color black, including the inner surface of wings and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, 

 feathers adjacent to nostrils, lores, upper eyelids, and remaining space around the eye. The head and neck all round, the fore 

 part of the breast, extending some distance down on the median line, and a somewhat hidden space around the anus, yellow. A 

 conspicuous white patch at the base of the wing formed by the spurious feathers, interrupted by the black alula. 



