NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. l75 



gins of all ami a central field along the shaft white. Under parts white, the 

 throat and jugulum streaked, and the other parts thickly and uniformly waved 

 with transverse dusky bars, bordered with light reddish. Bill, legs and feet, 

 dark greenish black. Young. Upper parts a uniform light greyish ash, the 

 blackish feathers appearing at intervals ; these and the dusky scai)ular,s and 

 wing coverts bordered with white. Upper tail coverts white, scarcely marked 

 with dusky. Primaries as in the adult. Under parts white, the jugulum with 

 an ashy suflfusion, and obsoletely streaked. Slight traces of the reddish 

 auriculars. Bill dusky black, legs and feet light greenish yellow. 



Length 9*25, extent 16*75, wing 5'1, tail 2"3. Tarsus 1'6, middle toe 1, 

 tibia exposed 1 inch. 

 Habitat. — North America, east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 The preceding diagnosis would characterize the species sufficiently well for 

 ordinary purposes ; birt in view of the uncei-tainty whether there are not two 

 or more species to be enumerated as inhabitants of North America, a some- 

 what more extended description may not be considered unnecessary. The 

 following is taken from a very perfect male from Great Slave Lake in spring 

 plumage ; and the description of the supi^osed young is from a specimen from 

 the Red Fork of the Arkansas. 



The feathers extend on the lower mandible nearly in the form of a right 

 angle, their upper outline being about parallel with the culmen, to a distance 

 beyond those on the upper equal to half the distance of those between the 

 rami. The crown of the head is blackish, streaked with white and with red- 

 dish. An ill-defined light line over the eye commences about half M'ay be- 

 tween the eye and bill, and extends to the occiput, widening posteriorly. 

 There is a dusky line between the eye and bill. The auriculars are light 

 chestnut red, which color extends as a line beneath and before the eye to the 

 white stripe above ; interrupted by this, it commences above the stripe and 

 passes over the side of the occiput to the nape, where it is confluent with the 

 one on the opposite side. The hind neck is simply streaked with dusky and 

 whitish. The middle of the back is black, each feather edged and tipped with 

 light yellowish, which encroaches upon the central black in two or three irregu- 

 lar indentations. On the scapulars the edgings are tinged with reddish, and 

 the indentations are more numerous and regular. The long tertials are black- 

 ish, evenly edged with chestnut passing into whitish at the tip. All the 

 feathers of the back have a greenish gloss. The secondaries and greater 

 coverts are light ashy edged with white, the lesser coverts darker with light 

 borders. The primaries are dusky, their tips black, the shaft of the first 

 brown passing into white, of the others black passing into brown ; the tips of 

 all black. The centre of the rump is dusky, the sides nearly white ; the upper 

 tail coverts white with numerous sagittate or wavy bars of deep dusky. The 

 tail is very light ash, the central feathers scarcely darker, all with the margins 

 and a central shaft field white, most of the inner vane of the two outer being 

 white. The under parts are white ; the throat very sparsely marked with 

 minute dusky streaks, which on the jugulum are much larger and more nu- 

 merous ; these streaks on the breast change to transverse wavy bars of dusky 

 bordered with reddish, which uniformly cover the whole under parts. These 

 lines are thickest and most distinct on the breast, growing more obsolete in 

 the middle of the belly, and are largest on the sides under the wings, where 

 the reddish margins fill up the space between the bars on the same feather. 

 There is little reddish on the under tail coverts, where the bars become more 

 or less sagittate. 



The young is very different from the adult in color, but presents much the 

 same form and size. The upper parts are of a uniform light ashy, the blackish 

 of the adult appearing in irregular patches. These dark feathers, as well as 

 the scapulars, wing coverts and tertials are edged with white, the latter 



1861.] 



