AVES CHARADRIID/E 



FIG. 158. 



Totanus melanoleucus. Adult male. Breeding. P. U. O. C. 3839. One third natural size. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



Size. Adult male. (P. U. O. C. 3840, Barnegat, New Jersey, 5 May, 

 1877. William E. D. Scott.) Total length, 12.0 inches. 



Wing, 7.5 inches. 



Culmen, 2.25 inches. 



Tail, 2.7 inches. 



Tarsus, 2.6 inches. 



Adult females average appreciably larger in size than adult male birds. 



Color. General color above greyish, varied with white; below, white 

 varied with greyish or blackish mottling, streaking or barring. 



Adult male (cited above) breeding plumage. Upper parts, blackish 

 varied with pale grey or white; below white, broadly streaked on the 

 neck, decorated on the breast with sagittate markings, and barred on 

 the sides and flanks with blackish brown, deep in tone. 



Head : Crown blackish, each feather edged with white, and a distinct 

 white median line dividing that region. Lores blackish with a broad 

 white streak above. Sides of head and face white streaked with blackish. 



Neck : Upper neck much like the crown. Lower neck, chin and throat 

 white, the rest white streaked with blackish like the sides of the face. 

 This streaking becoming gradually wider toward the breast. 



Back : Mantle blackish, with greyish or white edging and notching to 

 the feathers. The rump white, distinctly barred with black, the barring 

 being most pronounced on the white upper tail coverts. 



