BIRDS OF KANSAS. 127 



orbital space bordered posteriorly wifh greenish black, from the lower part of 

 which projects backward from the rictus a short stripe of the same; below this, 

 along the upper edge of the malar region, a narrow stripe of white, the lower 

 malar feathers being mixed black and rufous, forming another stripe; throat 

 and foreneck, from chin to jugulum, white, marked with broad longitudinal 

 dashes of dusky. Lower parts ash gray, the lining of the wing somewhat spot- 

 ted, and distinctly bordered, outwardly, with creamy white. Scapular plumes 

 glaucous plumbeous, with a green reflection in certain lights, the shafts white. 

 Wing coverts and rectrices brilliant metallic bottle green, the former distinctly 

 bordered narrowly with fulvous white; these borders on the lesser coverts more 

 rusty or fulvous; rectrices immaculate bottle green; remiges and primary cov- 

 erts plumbeous, with a green reflection, the inner primaries and adjoining sec- 

 ondaries with narrow crescentic tips of white, the coverts with terminal deltoid 

 spots of the same. Bill deep black, the lower mandible sometimes partly yel- 

 lowish or greenish; lores and orbits varying from olive green to bright yellow; 

 iris gamboge yellow; legs and feet olive green or olive yellow, the scutellse more 

 greenish; claws horn color. Young: Pileum, including crest, as in the adult, 

 but usually streaked with dark rusty anteriorly; sides of the head and neck 

 dull dark rusty, indistinctly streaked with light ochraceous or buff; lower parts 

 white, tinged with buff and striped with dusky. Back scapulars and rump uni- 

 form dull dusky green, some of the feathers indistinctly bordered with rusty; 

 wings and tail as in the adult, but light borders to larger wing coverts more 

 ochraceous, and the two or three middle rows marked with medial wedge-shaped 

 dashes of the same. Bill lighter colored than in the adult, dull greenish pre- 

 vailing, only the culmen dusky, the lower mandible mostly pale yellowish; legs 

 and feet dull greenish yellow or olivaceous." 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 19.00 28.00 7.50 3.00 2.10 2.55 



Female... 18.00 26.00 7.00 2.80 1.85 2.40 



This widely-distributed and common species is a summer resi- 

 dent, in suitable localities, throughout the northern portion of 

 the Union; wintering in the Southern States and southward, 

 where it also breeds. A graceful little beauty, but for some 

 unknown reason is in bad repute, hooted at and stoned by the 

 boys and called bad names; it may be because it destroys daily 

 many of the finny tribe, but in this respect does not differ from 

 the family of which it is one of the least, and not near as de- 

 structive at the artificial fish ponds as the Night Heron, that 

 during the night visits with noiseless wing the ponds and foun- 

 tains in the very heart of the city, where it feeds undisturbed, 

 and as silently wings itself away. 



These birds are not shy, and, where not persecuted, very easily 

 approached. Their feeding habits are similar to those of the 



