104 FEATHERED GAME 



unable longer to repress nature, " shied a rock" 

 at them. Such fearlessness, or heedlessness, or 

 innocence, whichever it was, I have never seen 

 in a wild bird. 



In the breeding dress this bird is dark slatey 

 gray above, darkest on the head; on the back 

 having numerous mottlings of brownish yellow, 

 many of the feathers finely edged with white. 

 The dark color on the head runs back from the 

 bill below the eye, leaving a white area below 

 margined about by this color and the red-brown 

 patch on the neck, which extends from the nape 

 in a narrow belt across the upper breast, 

 nearly encircling the throat. All other under 

 parts white. The upper tail coverts like the 

 back though with broader white margins to the 

 feathers. The wings, when closed extending 

 beyond the tail, are dusky, the tips of the 

 greater coverts making a broad white bar across 

 them. Quills with shafts whitish, darkening 

 toward the tips. Bill small and slender, pro- 

 portionately shorter than in Wilson's and 

 black in color, as are likewise the feet and legs. 

 The toes have a marginal membrane, scalloped 

 on the edges, making lobes on each joint. The 

 membrane also extends between the toes out to 



