498 



U. S p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



Fema)e, witliout the wliite of quills, tail, and rump, and witliont any black or red. Above ycllowisb brown streaked with 

 darker ; head with a central stripe above, and a superciliary on each siae, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on 

 the breast and sides. Under wins; coverts and axillars satlVon yellow. Length, 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.15. 



llab. — Eastern United States to the Missouri plains, south to Guatemala. 



In the male the black feathers of the hack and sides of the neck have a suhterminal white bar. 

 There are a few black spots on the sidSs of the breast just below the red. 



The young male of the year is like the female, except in having the axillaries, under wing 

 coverts, and a trace of a patch on the breast, light rose red. 



The tint of carmine on the under parts varies a good deal in diiferent specimens. 



List of specimens. 



Locality. 



Selkirk Settlem't, H.B.T. 



Carlisle, Pa 



do 



do 



do ; 



.do.. 



Independence, Mo. 

 do 



St. Louis, Mo 



Vermilion river 



Ponka Island, Neb. 

 Running Water.... 



Bijou Hill, Neb 



Guatemala 



When col- 

 lected. 



Whence obtained. 



Donald Gunn.... 



Sept. 3,1845 S. F. Baird 



Sept. —,1840 do 



Sept. 16,1842 do 



April 28,1815 | do 



May 10,1844 ! do 



June 18,1857 ' Wm. M.Magraw. 

 May 29,1857 I do 



May 12,1857 

 Sept. 8,1856 

 May 10,1856 

 May 12,1856 

 May 16,1856 



Lieut. F. T. Bryan. 

 Lieut. G. K. Warren 

 do 



do.. 



do.. 



J. Gould. 



Orig. 



No. 



35 



Collected by — Length. Stretch 

 of wings 



Dr. Cooper.. 

 do 



W.S.Wood. 

 Dr. FV. Hayden 

 do 



.do., 

 .do.. 



8.00 12.75 

 8.00 12.75 

 8.42 ! 13.08 



Wing. 



8.00 

 7.37 



7.37 

 7.87 

 8.12 

 8.25 



12.25 

 12.00 



12.12 

 12.50 

 12,50 

 12.62 



4.00 

 4.17 

 4.25 

 4.00 



Iris brown ; bill black 

 and white; feetgray. 



3.12 

 3.87 

 3.50 

 4.13 



I 



GUIRACA MELANOCEPHALA, Sw. 



Black-headed Grosbeak. 



Guiraca melanoccphalu, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 438.— Bov. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 502. 



Coccotliraustes melanocepkala. Rich. List, Pr. Brit. Ass. for 1836, 1837. 



Fringilla melanocepkala, Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 519 ; pi. 373. 



Coccoborus melanocephalus, Ann. Synopsis, 1839, 133 — Ib. Birds Amer. Ill, 1841, 214 ; pi. 20G. 



Gon'wphea melanocepltala, Sclater.' 



Hedtjmeles melanoccphala, Cabanis, Mus. Kein. 1851, 153. 



Fringilla xanthomaschalis, Wagler, Isis, 1831, 525. 



Pitylus guttalus. Lesson, Rev. Zool. II, 1839, 102. 



?Gutraco tricolor, Lesson, Rev. Zool, II, 1839, 102. 



Sp. Ch. — Head above and on the sides, with cliin, b.ick, wings, and tail, black. A broad median stripe on the crown, a stripe 

 behind the eye, a well marked collar on the hind neck all round, edges of interscapular feathers, rump, and under parts generally 

 pale brownish orange, almost light cinnamon. Middle of belly, axillaries, and under wing coverts, yellow. Belly just anterior 

 to the anus, under tail coverts, a large blotch at the end of the inner webs of first and second tail feathers, a band across the 

 middle and greater wing coverts, some spots on the ends of the tertiaries, the basal portions of all the quills, and the outer 

 three primaries near the tips, white. 



Female similar, with less black ; wings and tail more olivaceous, the latter unspotted ; the black of the head anteriorly 

 replaced by whitish. The under wing coverts bright yellow. Length of male, nearly 8 inches ; wing, 4.25 ; tail, 3.50. 



Ilab. — High Central Plains from Yellowstone to the Pacific. Table lands of Mexico. 



This species has the bill similar to that of G. ludoviciana, a little more swollen, perhaps, and 

 of a blackish color. The second (^uill is longest, then the third, fourth, and first. The tail is 

 slightly emarginate and rounded. 



