BIRDS — FKINGILLIDAE PLECTROPHANES MACCOWNII. 



437 



feathers, edged with paler. Both have the white posterior row of lesser wing coverts. The 

 color of hill differs in each. 



An immature male (6291) has the hlack of the head mixed with hrown, and a maxillary 

 series of spots on each side the throat. A female has a similar series of spots ; the under parts 

 generally being brownish white, the shafts across the breast and along sides streaked with 

 brown, the concealed portions of the feathers light brown, fading out to the whitish exterior. 

 There is no black on the shoulder, nor chestnut on the nape. 



List of specimens. 



PLECTEOPHANES MACCOWNII, Lawrence, 



Pkctrophanes maccoicnii, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, Sjpt. 1851, 122. Western Texas.— Cassin, Illust. I, viii, 

 1855, 228 ; ^xxxix. 



Sp. Ch. — Bill very stout and large. Head above, a sliariily defined semi-lunar crescent on the upper part of the breast, and 

 probably a short niaxillary line on each side ol^ the chin and throat, black ; rest of under parts, with a superciliar}' stripe, white; 

 shoulders chestnut. Rest of upper parts yellowish brown, streaked with darker. External tail feather white ; the rest white, 

 tipped and margined externally with brown, the white line of separation going almost transversely across the whole of the inner 

 wtb, instead of running forward in an acute point. The innermost feather like the back. 



Length, about 5.50; wing3.60; tail, 2.50; bill above .46. 



Hub. — Eastern slopes of Rocky Mountains ; from Fort Thorn, N. M., as far east as the Black Hills north of Platte. 



In this species the bill is considerably larger and stouter than in any other I have seen. It 

 measures .46 of an inch above, and the distance between the basal portions of the upper and 

 under outlines amounts to .31 of an inch. The tail is quite deeply forked. The claws appear 

 to be straighter than in the other species ; the hinder one unusually short, measuring only ..36 

 of an inch. 



The most perfec'j specimen before me does not appear to be quite mature, although the 

 markings are pretty well indicated. There is only a faint trace d^a black maxillary line. 

 There is no trace of the chestnut or rufous collar seen in all the other North American species, 

 excepting P. nivalis. The loral region and line over the eye are brownish white, purer behind. 

 The upper rows of lesser coverts immediately along the edge of the wing are like the back, not 

 chestnut, like the rest of these coverts. .The peculiarity of the transverse termination of the 

 white in the exterior tail feathers, I have seen in no other species. The innermost feather has 



