34 BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



B. swainsoni and B. vulgaris, would think of referring the plate to 

 the latter, but would instantly recognize in it the adult female of the 

 former in the ordinary light phase of plumage.* The identification 

 of the bird described is not so readily made, but we will attempt it 

 by a careful analysis of the text. 



The first two paragraphs of the description referred to may as well 

 be passed over, since they are only an enumeration of generic charac- 

 ters ; the third paragraph also contains little to the point, save 

 the following clause: "Fourth quill longest, the third next, the 

 fifth very little shorter, the second longer than the fifth, the first 

 and seventh about equal ; first four abruptly cut on the inner tveb." t 

 Now as regards the coloration : " The general color of the upper 

 parts is chocolate-brown. The quills are of the general color exter- 

 nally, but the primaries are black toward the tip ; a great part of 

 the inner web, with the shaft, white, and barred with brownish- 

 black, the bars more extended on the secondaries.^ The tail is 

 marked with about ten dusky bars on a reddish-brown ground, 

 tinged with gray, the last dark bar broader, the tips paler. § The 

 eyelids are whitish, as is the throat, which is longitudinally 

 streaked with dusky. || The rest of the lower parts are yellowish 



* Of the distinctive characters of these two species, only one of those enumer- 

 ated by Mr. Maynard holds good ; the radical difference between them in the 

 emargination of the primaries being the one referred to. As to the feet, they 

 are more slender in B. vulgaris than in B. sivainsoni, while in the latter the 

 under wing-coverts are often pure white, — by no means always rufous. [For 

 diagnosis covering all the known variations of plumage and proportions in this 

 species, based on the careful examination and comparison of more than a hun- 

 dred specimens, the reader is referred to the Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, March 30, 1875, pp. 92, 104.] 



+ In B. vulgaris the third, fourth, or fifth quill is longest, usually the third 

 and 'fourth, which are generally equal ; the relative proportion of the quills is 

 the same in B. borealis (including all its forms), and in B. sivainsoni the third 

 or fourth, usually the third, is longest ; hence on account of its variability 

 this character is not of much value. 



X So far equally applicable to B. vulgaris and the young of B. borealis. 



§ In B. vulgaris the tail is grayish- rather than reddish -brown, seldom with 

 a tinge of red ; the bars are always badly defined, excepting on the middle 

 feathers, and become more or less obsolete toward the base, — those which are 

 distinct being of an indefinite number, but usually about ten. The young of B. 

 borealis frequently has the tail decidedly reddish, and the bars almost always 

 well-defined, and nine or ten in number. 



H Will answer for either B. vulgaris or B. borealis. 



