328 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



purple gloss. A small white spot at posterior angle of eye ; lores, chin, 

 and stripe beneath eyes, on each side of gorget, and extending nearly 

 to the end of the same across ear-coverts, velvety opaque black ; rest 

 of gorget intensely bright metallic crimson or ruby-red, changing to 

 brassy or golden and even greenish in certain lights. Chest dull grayish 

 white, the median line of the breast and belly similar, but darker; 

 sides and flanks deep sooty grayish strongly glossed with bronze-green ; 

 under tail coverts light grayish brown or brownish gray broadly mar- 

 gined with dull whitish. Bill wholly black; feet blackish. Length 

 (skin), 3.15*; wing, 1.60; tail, 1.20, the middle feathers 0.30 shorter; 

 exposed culmen, 0.60. 



Adult female (No. 1101, Washington, District of Columbia, 1843; S. 

 F. Baird): Above, similar in color to the male; tail-feathers, however, 

 except' two middle pairs, tricolored, the basal portion bronze-green, 

 tips white, and intermediate portion black, the white broadest (about 

 0.30 of an inch along shaft) on outer feather, the black nearly the same 

 width (about 0.35 along shaft) on all, the fourth feather tipped with 

 black for about 0.25 of an inch. Chin, throat, belly, and under tail- 

 coverts dull white,t chest pale grayish, sides and flanks deeper grayish, 

 slightly tinged with brown. Bill black, feet dusky. Length (skin), 

 3.30; wing, 1.80 ; tail 1.05, middle feathers 0.10 shorter; exposed cul- 

 men, 0.65. 



Young male (No. 84118, Mount Carmel, Illinois, August 17, 1870; E. 

 Eidgway): Similar to the adult female, but upper parts less bronzy, 

 the feathers indistinctly margined terminally with pale grayish buffy 

 (observable only in certain lights) ; basal portion of tail-feathers much 

 duller green. Lower parts as in adult female, but chin and throat nar- 

 rowly streaked with brownish dusky, and sides and flanks more 

 strongly tinged with buffy brown. Length (skin), 3.05; wing, 1.65; 

 tail, 1.10, the middle feathers 0.95 ; exposed culrnen, 0.65. 



Young males begin to show the metallic-red feathers of the gorget 

 the first winter or late during the first autumn, the tail at the same 

 time remaining the same as described above. Some specimens have 

 the dusky streaks on the throat broader than in the specimen de- 

 scribed above, forming small oval or oblong spots instead of streaks. 



In adult males there is little variation in color, except that the hue 

 of the green above varies, as in other species, from a decided bronze to 

 a clear bottle-green, the average tint being intermediate between the 

 two, and the color always most decided on the upper tail-coverts and 

 middle tail-feathers. The color of the throat is sometimes more scarlet 

 (much the same as in Selasphorus rufus), and there is also some differ- 

 ence in the color of the lower parts, some specimens being darker than 

 others. 



In adult females there is the same variation in the color of the upper 



* The length of the adult male before skinning is about 3.50-3.75. 



t In this particular specimen adventitiously stained with brown on chin and throat. 



