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120 



PR^COCIAL GIIALLATORE^! — LIMIC'OL^. 



Remuiiider of the lower parts, upper part of tla- ntiiip, upper tail-toverta, and ends of secondaries, 

 pure white. BreeiUny-jdum'tiie : Uppi'r jtarts dr. Icy lilaciiish, the wiiii,'-covorta li^'htf-r, lUDro 

 brownish gray, tlie featliei's showing darker centre- ; back and scapuhus little, if at all, varied with 

 rufous; crown dusky, unifoni, or streaked. Spriinj (and winter .') p/nimtrje: Ujjper parts nii.xed 

 black and briglit lufous, the latter color occupying chiefly the middle of the back (longitudinally) 

 and the wing-coverts, the scapulars and tertials nii.\ed black and rufous. Piieuni more streaked 

 with white, and markings about the head and neck more sharply defmed than in the summer dress, 

 "Bill black; iris lia/el ; feet deep orange-red, claws black" (AlI)L'Bon). Yountj : Head chieHy 

 mill led grayish, witlnnit well-delined markings ; black of the jugulum and breast indicated by 

 niou'.ed dusky, occupying the same area, but not sharply defined ; upper parts grayish dusky, the 

 feathers bordered terminally with butf or whitish. 



Total length about 9 inches ; wing, 0.1X1 ; tail, 2.50 ; culmeu, .80-.90 ; tarsus, 1.00 ; middle 

 toe, .7o. 



Spring plunwfie. 



The variations noted in a series of more than sixty specimens of this species are chiefly individ- 

 ual and seasonal. Examples are variously intermediate, according to the season, hetween the two 

 quite distinct stages of plumage described above as the breeding and the winter dress. Unfortu- 

 nately there are very few specimens from other countries than America, so that we cainiot say 

 whether those from diH'erent continents differ perceptibly. Two European examples, however, in 

 the winter livery, seem identical with American skins. 



The specimens in the daik, dull-colored summer plumage have been erroneously considered as 

 sho "ing a tendency toward the charactei's of S. vulanocephalus, or forming the " connecting link " 

 betwt n that species and S. interpres — thij view being apparently based on geographical consider- 

 ations, the specimens upon which this o])inion was founded conung from the Prybilof Islands. 

 Specimens in the same plumage occur, however, thi.ntghout the northern regions, including the 

 Old World, and apparently represent simply the sum.ner dress. 



The series of sununer specimens from other idealities than Alaska, however, is unfortunately 

 very small ; and it may possibly prove true, that what we ,;ave described above as the breeding- 

 plumage of true S. interpres represents really a darker-colo' ^d Alaskan race, and that the brighter- 

 colored plumage described as the winter dvess is really the full breeding-plumage of true interpres. 

 However this may be, the dark Alaskan birds have nothing whatever to do with S. melanocepliedus, 

 which has not oidy veiy different proportions, but also in every stage a conspicuously different 

 pattern of coloration. 



The Common Tiu-nstone is one of the most widely distributed and at the same 

 time one of the r .ost abundant of l)ird.s. Breeding in great numbers in all the high 

 Arctic regions, oi- i in the northern portions of both continents, it wanders thence 

 southward over a!' lands. It is found at certain seasons on both the Atlantic and 

 Pacific shores, and also in the interior of North and South America, as far even as the 

 Straits of Magellan. It has been taken in various parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. 



