238 Life and Immortality. 



hen. Dressed in a simple garb, they look but little like 

 their parents. Above they show a reddish-brown or rufous 

 coloring, which fades into a rusty-white below. Excepting 

 a dusky streak which starts from the posterior part of the 

 eye and crosses the auricular regions obliquely downward, 

 and a whitish bill, they have nothing to diversify the monot- 

 ony of their plumage. But when they have attained the age 

 of four or five months, they show their heredity so plainly 

 that their identity cannot be disputed or mistaken. 



In the adult, the tail is reddish-brown or gray above, with 

 narrow bars of black. Terminally, it is crossed by a slender 

 band of pale ash, which is preceded by -a broader one of 

 black, and this by another of an ashy color. The upper 

 parts are ochraceous-brown, and finely mottled with grayish 

 markings. The lower parts are chiefly white, with broad 

 transverse bars of light brown, which are mostly hidden from 

 view upon the abdomen. Upon the shoulders the shafts of 

 the feathers have pale streaks, which also exist in those of 

 the wing-coverts. The upper tail-coverts and the wings are 

 marked with pale, grayish cordate spots, while the lower tail- 

 coverts are pale ochraceous, each being provided with a 

 terminal delta-shaped spot of white, which is bordered with 

 dusky. The neck-tufts are brownish-black. The male meas- 

 ures eighteen inches in length, and has a breadth of wings 

 of seven and two-tenths inches. The tail is about seven 

 inches long. The female is smaller than the latter, with 

 similar colors, but has less prominent tufts upon the sides of 

 the neck. 



The eggs of this species are usually of a uniform dark- 

 cream color, but sometimes show a nearly pure-white ground. 

 In most specimens there are no markings at all, but when 

 they do occur, are either quite numerous and conspicuous, 

 or few in number, and obscure. They are usually ovoidal, 

 but forms are occasionally met with which are nearly spher- 

 ical. Their average dimensions, as obtained from specimens 

 from the most diverse localities, are about 1.64 by 1.18 



