370 Dr. Coues on the 



known as this ; but certain features, particularly in respect of 

 changes of plumage, may be in place. The moult is double ; the 

 plumage is renewed early in the spring, and again in autumn, as 

 soon as domestic duties are finished *. The change begins on the 

 head and fore parts of the body, and proceeds regularly backward. 

 Thus we have shot specimens early in April not to be surpassed 

 in the brilliancy of the hues of the head, body, and wings, which 

 were freshly feathered, yet with faded and evidently well-worn 

 rectrices. When in full plumage, the tail is a most conspicuous 

 feature ; in size this is intermediate between that of Q. macrurus, 

 and of Q. versicolor : it is highly lustrous, with a rounded (not 

 cuneate) outline, and shows the peculiar upward slant of the 

 lateral rectrices, which leaves the middle pair to represent the 

 keel of a boat, whence the trivial namef- At this season the 

 beautiful metallic gloss and iridescence of the plumage rivals in 

 intensity that of Q. versicolor itself, though the tints, as is well 

 known, are quite different. The iris is a clear pale straw- 

 yellow ; the bill and feet are ebony-black. The fresh feathers 

 of the full moult are hardly inferior in beauty to those of spring. 

 The female might easily pass for another species, lacking, in 

 great measure, the unusual development of the tail, and being 

 as much smaller, comparatively, in other dimensions : while a 

 perfect male may measure 16 inches, or even a little more, a 

 female in equally full plumage may fall short of 12 inches. 

 She is brown, paler, and somewhat greyish below, with a shade 

 of greenish-black (nearly " invisible green " sometimes) above, 

 and especially on the wings and tail. Her eye is pale yellow, 

 like the male^s. The young have brown irides, which gradually 

 change to yellow, a case parallel with that of some or many 

 Hawks. When the young first leave the nest, they are clear 

 warm brown above and pale grey below, almost white on the 

 abdomen ; the naked space about each eye is large ; there is a 

 tuft of riuffy down upon the head — remnant of what had covered 

 the whole body. This tuft shortly disappears ; and the colours 



* It should be borne in mind, especially regarding dates, that reference 

 is had, in all instances, to observations made in North Carolina. 



t And probably also, in case of allied species, the technical word 

 Scaphidura. 



