■s 



^04 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



margins of the feathers ; primaries blackish with white marks on their outer 

 webs. Tail sometimes grayish at the base with white tips, or pure white. 

 Under parts pure white, with a black "V-shaped mark near the centre of the 

 feathers on the breast and flanks, gradually growing smaller and fainter, as 

 they approach the abdomen an 1 vent. Tlie white feathers of the legs are 

 hair-like and extend over the toes quite to the nails. Bill black ; feet dark 

 brown. 



Hahitat. — Arctic America, plentiful around Hudson's Bay, but never found 

 within the limits of the United States. 



Supplementary note to a " Synopsis of the North American Forms of tie 

 COLYMBID.E and PODICEPID^." 



BY ELLIOTT COUES. 



Since the publication of my paper on the Loons and Grebes of North Amer- 

 ica, the Smithsonian Institution has received, from J. Hepburn, Esq. , of San 

 Francisco, California, what has long been a great desideratum in its collec- 

 tions, a specimen of yEchmophorus Clarkii in full plumage. The interest 

 attaching to the elucidation of this hitherto undetermined question in Amer- 

 ican ornithology induces me to offer the following brief notice of the points in 

 which the nuptial dress differs from the ordinary well known winter plumage. 

 The specimen alluded to, Mr. Hepburn states, was shot in the latter part of 

 April, and is a female. 



.^CHJioPHOKcs Clarkii, Cones. — (Adult female, breeding plumage.) — The 

 chrome yellow of the under mandible, and of the tip and cutting edges of the 

 upper, is very bright, and in marked contrast with the quite pure black of 

 the culmen. The bare loral space is leaden blue. The crown, occiput, and 

 neck behind are very deep grayish black, almost pure black on the occipiit, 

 and fading gradually along the neck, into the blackish gray of the back and 

 upper parts generally, which color is scarcely, if at all, deeper than in the 

 average of winter specimens. The white space between the eye and bill is 

 very broad, and remarkably pure. The throat, neck before, and whole under 

 parts are of a beautiful silky white, the line of demarcation of the black and 

 white on the sides of the head and neck being remarkably distinct. There is 

 a decided occipital crest ; the feathers of that region are about one inch in 

 length, and have the peculiar filiform character common to the crests of birds 

 of this family. This crest, however, on the dried skin lies quite smoothly, 

 and is not very conspicuous except on raising the feathers. There are no 

 decided colored ruffs ; but the white feathers of the sides of the head posteriorly, 

 and across the throat, are longer and fuller than elsewhere, particularly the 

 former. Although this elongation is hardly noticeable in the dried skin, it is 

 doubtless sufficient to give to the bird when in life something of the appear- 

 ance presented by most of the species of this family. In other respects the 

 specimen before me does not differ materially from the winter series. 



I have always been of opinion that the two birds which I have recently 

 separated generically from Podiceps would not possess the conspicuous colored 

 ruffs for which the type of the genus (P. cristatus) is so noted. The suppo- 

 sition to that effect, doubtfully set forth in my last paper, is now verified in 

 the case of one of the species of the genus, and I have no doubt that the nup- 

 tial plumage of uEchmophorus occidentalis will be perfectly analogous to that 

 exhibited by the species under consideration. 



A specimen of Podiceps (Proctopiis) californicus, in full summer plumage, 

 has also been received from Mr. Hepburn. It presents the same marked dif- 

 ferences from the European P. auritus as do all the other specimens from North 

 America which have fallen under my observation ; and is additional confirma- 

 tion of the position assumed with regard to the specific distinction of the 

 American and European birds. They are quite distinct species and recogni- 

 zable in either adult or young plumage. 



[Sept. 



