128 lewis's AMERICAN S P II T S M A X. 



Bill jellowisli-brown. Frontal caruncle blue and red. Rugose 

 and carunculated skin of the head and neck of various tints of 

 blue and purple, the pendulous anterior caruncles of the latter, or 

 the tvatths, bright red, changing to blue. Iris hazel, legs and 

 toes bright purplish-red ; claws brown. Upper part of the back 

 and wings brownish-yellow, with metallic lustre, changing to deep 

 purple, the truncated tips of the feathers broadly margined with 

 velvet-black. On the middle and lower back, the black terminal 

 bands of the feathers almost conceal the bronze color. The large 

 quill-coverts are of the same color as the back, but more bronzed, 

 with purple reflections. 



Quills brownish-black, the primaries banded with grayish-white, 

 the secondaries with brownish-white, gradually becoming deeper 

 towards the proximal feathers, which are similar to the coverts. 

 The lower part of the back and the coverts are deep chestnut, 

 banded with green and black. The tail-feathers are of the same 

 color, undulatingly barred, and minutely sprinkled with black, and 

 having a broad, blackish bar towards the tip, which is pale-brown 

 and minutely mottled. The under parts are duller. Breast of the 

 same colors as the back, the terminal black band not so broad ; 

 sides dark-colored ; abdomen and thighs brownish-gray ; under-tail 

 coverts blackish, glossed with bronze, and at the tip bright reddish- 

 brown. 



Length, 4 feet 1 inch ; extent of wings, 5 feet 8 inches ; beak, 

 1|- inches along the ridge, 2 along the gap ; tarsus, 7 j ; middle 

 toe, 5 ; hind toe, 2 ; pectoral appendage, one foot. 



The female is considerably inferior in size, with the wattles much 

 smaller, the tuft on the breast comparatively small and only in old 

 birds, the color of the plumage duller, there being but little of 

 the refulgent hues of the male, and the lower parts brownish-black. 

 The young, before being fledged, are pale, brownish-yellow above, 

 pale yellowish-gray beneath, the top of the head brighter, marked 

 in the middle with a longitudinal pale-brown band ; the back and 

 wings spotted with brownish-black, excepting the smaller wing- 

 coverts, which are uniformly dull brown. 



