BOHEMIAN WAX-WING. 289 



the 20th March, 1825, on the Athabasca river, near the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. The sexes hardly differ in plumage. 



Length eight and a half inches ; extent fifteen ; bill three-quarters 

 of an inch long, black, paler at the base of the under mandible ; irides 

 reddish, often quite red : nostrils entirely uncovered. From the base 

 of the ridge of the bill, arises on each side a velvety black line, border- 

 ing the forehead, and spreading on the ophthalmic region, and surround- 

 ing almost the whole crown ; throat also deep black. The anterior part 

 of the head is bright bay, behind passing gradually into vinaceous drab ; 

 the feathers of the crown are elongated into a crest measuring nearly 

 an inch a half; base of these feathers blackish, middle white, whole 

 neck and hind head and breast cinereous drab, slightly tinged with vina- 

 ceous, and passing by degrees on the posterior parts above and beneath 

 into pure cinereous, slightly tinged with bluish, which predominates on 

 the rump and upper tail-coverts. The black of the throat is somewhat 

 margined with bright bay, and is separated from the black of the eye by 

 a slight obliterated white line. The cinereous of the belly and femorals 

 is paler ; the vent and lower tail-coverts are chestnut rufous, and the 

 feathers very long. The wings measure four and a half inches in 

 length, the second primary is somewhat longer than the first, the others 

 decreasing in succession rapidly. The upper tail-coverts are cinereous 

 drab, like the back, the lower whitish-gray, quills dusky black, much 

 paler on their inner vane towards the base. The first is unspotted, the 

 second has a slight mark of white on the outer web at tip. This mark 

 increases in size successively on the following, becoming a longitudinal 

 spot, much larger on the secondaries, four of which are furnished with 

 bright red appendages. Each feather of the winglet is broadly white 

 at tip, constituting a remarkable white spot on the wing, which appears 

 to be on the primaries. No yellow whatever is observable on the wing. 

 The tail is three inches long, black, broadly tipped with pale yellow for 

 half an inch, dark blui.sh gray at base. Tarse, which is three-quarters 

 of an inch long, and feet, black. 



Vol. III.— 19. 



