614 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



mottled with dull rufous and edged with a like color; the tail has the 

 general deep brown tone with purplish shading found in the adult ; it is 

 in the youngest birds decorated with several obsolete bands of ashy grey, 

 the base being finely mottled with the same shade ; the subterminal band 

 is well-defined and the terminal white tips to the feathers are clear. In 

 birds which appear to be older, the first breeding season, but not yet in 

 full plumage, the tail has two or more white bars near the base in addi- 



FIG. 305. 



Heterospizias meridionalis. Female. Natural size. 



tion to the median clear white band and the terminal white margin. 

 There seems to be no intermediate or transitional plumage between this 

 and the adult stage, when the tail is characterized as indicated above. 

 The lower parts are pale rufous, barred with blackish, often concentrated 

 on the breast and chest into a distinct dark area, forming a broad band, 

 but more frequently homogeneous in barring throughout ; as already 

 described under the adult, this barring varies much in clearness till the 

 bars almost disappear from the lower surface, except on the breast, in 

 what seem to be the oldest birds. 



Geographical Range. The same as that given for the genus, it being 

 mono-typic. 



This species is included in the present account of the bird-fauna of 

 Patagonia chiefly on the record of specimens from the Rio Chico del 

 Chubut, Patagonia, by C. Burmeister. That it is of common occurrence 



