498 U. S P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
Female, without the white of quills, tail, and rump, and without any black or red. Above yellowish brown streaked with 
darker ; head with a central stripe above, and a superciliary on each sice, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on 
the breast and sides. Under wing coverts and axillars saffron yellow. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.15. 
Hab.—Kastern United States to the Missouri plains, south to Guatemala. 
In the male the black feathers of the back and sides of the neck have a subterminal white bar. 
There are a few black spots on the sides 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 different specimens. 
List of specimens. 
] 
Catal. | Sex and) Locality. When col- | Whence obtained. | Orig. | Collected by— Length. | Stretch | Wing. Remarks. 
No. age. | lected. | No. jof wings. 
6945 fof Selkirk Settlem’t, H.B.T. |....--..-000+ | Donald Gunn 
2425 Q Carlisle, Pa.....e+se0e.| Sept. 3,1845 | S. F. Baird.. 
135 ri Sept. —, 1840 }...... COs. cece 
722 fo) Sept. 16,1842 |...... dO. wececesess 
2157 rea April 28,1845 |....%- dO... ccccecee 
1496 Go feeeees dO. Wedese\cceeon May 10,1844 |...... OD eeniesesee 
8348 rea Independence, Mo..... June 18,1857 Wm. M. Magraw... 
8318 (oe oe Ousteeseies'c'aiccbiea's May 29,1857 |...... dO. sce coves | Iris brown ; bill black 
| | | and white; feet gray. 
7013 | | St. Louis, Mo ....eeeeee | May 12,1857 Lieut. F. T. Bryan../......] W-S. Wood.... 
4849 3 Vermilion river....+.+ | Sept. 8,1856 | Lieut. @. K.Warren 
4248 rel Ponka Island, Neb..... May 10,1856 | 
4851 Q Running Water........ May 12,1856 | 
4852 Q Bijou Hill, Neb.... «| May 16,1856 es 
8061 |..... eee} GUAateMalaceecsceeevees leeeeeeseee eens | J. Gould. sss. eeeeee 
GUIRACA MELANOCEPHALA, Sw. 
Black-headed Grosbeak. 
Guiraca melanocephala, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 438.—Bon. List, 1838.—Is. Consp. 1850, 502. 
Coccothraustes melanocephala, Ricu. List, Pr. Brit. Ass. for 1836, 1837. 
Fringilla melanocephala, Aup. Orn. Biog. 1V, 1838, 519 ; pl. 373. 
Coccoborus melanocephalus, Aup. Synopsis, 1839, 133.—Is. Birds Amer. III, 1841, 214; pl. 206. 
Goniaphea melanocephala, ScLatER? 
Hedymeles melanocephala, Capants, Mus. Hein. 1851, 153. 
Fringilla canthomaschalis, WaAc LER, Isis, 1831, 525. 
Pitylus guttatus, Lesson, Rev. Zool. Il, 1839, 102. 
2 Guiraca tricolor, Lesson, Rev. Zoole II, 1839, 102. 
Sp. Cx.—Head above and on the sides, with chin, back, 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, ramp, 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. 
Hab.—Higih 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 quill is longest, then the third, fourth, and first. The tail is 
slightly emarginate and rounded. 
