^ FIMNr.iMJD.f: -TIIK FrxniK.^. 5^5 



frontal liliukish patth exl^'inliu;.' IVoiii Itusf of l»ill (t'Xt'i-pting the bristly feathers imme- 

 di.itcly mljatoiit to it), and rtatliiu}: sonu-uhat lu'Voml tin- line of tin* eyes, witli con- 

 vex outliiH' l)«'liiinl, ami txteutiin;,' k's« distinctly on the loral re^'ion. Chin ami throat 

 • larkt'r chostinit, not ^'rayish anttiiorly. HimIv hchiinl dusky; thij feathers of ahdonjen 

 and Hanks washed, and t)f erissuni, rump, and njtper tail-eoverts tipp«'d, with rose-re«l ; 

 winjTf-ooverts, and to sunn* extent jpiills, ed;/rd with the same; otherwise with white. 

 Bill ycllowisli, witli du>kv tip ; fert l.Jark. Len^'th hefore skinninjr, <)..')( ►; extent, ll.oO. 

 Skin: L( iijrih, O.o<> ; wini:, l.iJi) ; tail. ;j.tX). 



YoKuif. I'attern of euloration as in the adult of A. fffihrocotis ; a>h similarly n'.Ntricted, 

 but with the blaek frontal pateh badly defnu'd. The l>rown of the plumaire, however, is 

 of an entirely dilfeient shade from that of adult speeimens ol' kjt/irocotis^ being of a lihuk- 

 i8h-si'j)ia e-ast, mueh darker, even, than in '/risfiHurha ; eaeh feather uli<o broadly bordered 

 terminally with palei', these borders being whiti<h «»n the thioat and breast, brownish on 

 the nape and baek, and light rose (broa«lly) on the .^eapulars. The whole abdomen, 

 Hanks, and crissum are nearly eontimiously peaeh-l)loss(»!u pink, which, with that of the 

 lesser and mitldle wing-eoverts and rump, is of a liner and brighter tint than in adults. 

 The other edgings to wings are pale oehraeeous : under side of wing pun' white. iJill i dl 

 yellow, dusky toward tip. Wing, 4.'J0; tail, 3.S(>. ((;o.«;,'iS, T'intah Mountains, Utah, 

 September 'J(>, 1H70; Du. F. V. IIayden.) 



The young specinieii deseriljud was obtained during the summer of 1871 

 in the Uintali Mountains ; and were' it not unmistakahly a bird of the year, 

 it w^ould be considered abnost a distinct species, so dilferent is it from 

 adult specimens of tcphrovotis. 



Haiuts. Of the liistory and habits of this well-marked and strikingly 

 peculiar bird, but little is known. It was first described 1>y Swainson from 

 a single si>ecimen, obtained on the Saskatcliewan Tlains, in May, ])y Dr. 

 liichardson's party. Specimens were afterwards procured in Captain Stans- 

 bury's expedition, near Salt Liike City, Utah, in March, 1850. Dr. Hayden 

 found them very abundant on the Laramie Plains during the winter sea.son, 

 and ^Ir. Pearsall obtained numbers about Fort Benton. Dr. Cooper has also 

 seen one specimen brought from somewhere east of Lake Tahoe, in Washoe, 

 by Mr. F. Gruber. They were said to be i>lentiful there in the cold winter 

 of 18Gl-(32. Dr. Cooper thinks it probable that they visit the similar 

 country east of the northern Sierra Nevada, in California. 



A single flock of what is presumed to have been this species was seen 1 >y 

 Mr. Ilidgway, on the 5th of January, in the outskirts of Virginia City, Xe- 



tlie forehead ; n^st of head light cliocolat "-brown, sintilar to, but more faded than, that of the 

 whiter ithnnage ; nasal tufts grayish-white. 



Ten siH'ciniens collected by Mr. Allen all agree in the ehai-actei-s pointed out, by which they 

 differ fronj the winter plumage of L. tephrocotis. Taking into eoll^illel•ation the fact of their 

 l)lack instead of yellowish bill, more intense red, and generally more dusky colors, as well as 

 the other points of distinction from the previously known plumages of L. tephrocotis, and also 

 that they are identical in size and proportion, while specimens of L. tcphrocotia in the breeding 

 plumage have not before betMi seen, it seems verv' reasonable to supix»se that these sjiecimeus 

 represi'ut the bi-eeding plumage of that species. There is some resemblance to L. hruniuinucM, 

 which, from the platt:^ in Bonaparte and Schlegtd's monograph of the Coccothra uMincc, seems to 

 differ mainly in being lighter colored. Mr. Allen says that these birds were breeding abundantly 

 in the locality where they were found. 



04 



