44 



ALTRICIAL GUALLATOKES - IIERODIONES. 



Blue phase. 

 Adult: Head and neck rich purplish-maiocm, with a glaucous cast, the feathers more cliestnut 

 beneatli the surface ; rest of the ]pluiua;4e uniform (hirk Muish-iilumUMius, tlie idumes with a 

 gUiucous cast, the maroon and jiluMihcous i^'iadually blended. In Inrnliuij Kidxini, hill ultramarine- 

 blue at the base, the end black ; lores and eyelids tdtramarine-blue ; iris pule yellow ; tibia, tarsi, 



i' tt 



! ' 'tW 



and toes black (ArnrnoN). In nntumn, bill li^'ht idumbeous on the basal half, the terminal half 

 black ; lores and eyelids veiy j)ak' dull j,'rcenish ; iris sulphur yellow ; Ic^s and feet uniform pea- 

 green, darker at the joints.' Voitny ; Similar in color to the adult, but with less developed plumes, 

 or with none at all ; the head and neck more plumbeous. 



rial, or intermediate, phuse. 



The plumaf,'e mixed white and pUunbeous, in proportion varying,' with the individual, forming 

 a series connecting unbrokenly the two extremes described above. 



Many specimens show an irreguhir admixture of blue and white in the i)lumage ; but seldom, 

 so far as we have observed, is there any of the maroon color, seen on the liea<l and neck in the perfect 

 plumage ; the.«e parts being, in particohiicd bird-s usually tinged with a i)early-gray or bluish. The 

 comparative amount of the blue and white varies, of course, with the individual. A male from 

 Florida (N'o. 84591), apparently adult, though not in full breeding idumage, appears at tirst sight 

 to be entirely i)Ure white, with the exception of the usual blue on the ends cif the jirimarics. A 

 close in.«pection, however, shows that the feathei-s of the pileum ami nape, as well as tho.se of the 

 whole back and anterior lesser wing-coverts, are more or less strongly tinged, mostly beneath the 

 surface, with pale pearl-blue or glaucous ; this tinge, particularly on the dorsid region, partaking 

 of the character of minute, more or less denseljxsprinkled, dots. 



No. (50319, from Porto Rico, an adult with perfectly develoiwd jdumes, is white, the pileum, 

 nape, and back washed with pearl-blue, th(^ long back-jdumes deeper blue, with the terminal 

 third or more white, finely and sparsely sprinkled with blue. S'.'veral of the slender occipital 

 plumes are marooii-i>urple. One of the secondaries, on each side, has the outer web nearly uniform 

 blue, and the inner web sprinkled with the same. 



No. 39650, from the same locality, is pure white, with the long dorsal jdumes and many of the 

 feathers of the back uniform dark phind)eous-blue, the head anil neck pur]ilish-ldue, the throat 

 and foreneck white. Tliere is scarcely a trace of blue on the entls of the )irimaries ; but as these 

 are much abraded terminally, it is probable that the spots of this c(d(n- are worn oif. 



No. 72892, Jacksonville, Florida, has the jilumage pied blue and white, in irregular blotches 

 and patches, the two colors nearly eipial in extent. 



No. 70687 Demerara, is mostly blue, with the throat and foreneck medially, some of the 

 jugular plumes, and a few o*" the wing coverts, white, the latter mostly finely sprinkled with bluish. 

 In this specimen the white of the throat is almost as abruptly defined and conspicuous as in adult 

 Ifydraiiassa tricolor. 



• From a fresh spflcimen, killed August 6, near Wnslungton, D. C. 



