408 



ALECTOEIDES. 



Grmfusca (part), ViElLL. Nouv. Diet. XIII. 1817, 558 (= •' Ardea cmiadeims, Lath.," aud refers 



to both I'orms). 

 9rus canadensis (iiec Temm. e.\ LiKX.), Nrrr. Man. II. 1834, 38. — Baikd, B. N. Am. 1858, 655 ; 



Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 479. — CouES, Key, 1872, 271 ; Check List, 1873, no. 463 ; Birds N. 



W. 1874, 532. — RiDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 583. 

 Orus amerkana (supposed young), Aud. Oru. Biog. III. 1835, 441, pi. 261|; Synop. 1839, 219 ; 



B. Am. V. 1842, 188, pi. 314. 



Hab. The true G. canadensis, Arctic and Subarctic America, migrating south in winter. 

 Breeds in Alaska to the coast at St. Michael's, in the Mackenzie River district, along the whole of 

 the Arctic coast, and other parts of tlie high north, where entirely replacing the larger G. mexicana. 

 The latter, southern half of North America in general, excepting the Atlantic seaboard north of 

 Florida (and the extreme north ?) ; Cuba ; Mexico. Formerly found throughout the east also. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Entire pileum, including lores, covered with a bare, granulated skin (red- 

 dish in life), interspei-sed with scattered fine blackish hairs ; the posterior margin uf this bare skiu 



divided medially, un the occiput, by an angular projection of the feathej's on the upper part of the 

 nape. General color of the plumage continuous and nearly uniform plumbeous-gray, this fre- 

 quently stained or uveilain in places by a rusty wash, the primaries slate-colored, with whitish 

 shafts. Cheeks and throat sometimes distinctly whitish. Legs and feet blackish ; bill Ijlackish, 

 paler at tip ; iris crimson ? Young: Head entirely feathered. Plumage much as in the adult, but 

 of a lighter and more lirownish gray, and always conspicuously stained, especially on upper parts, 

 with tawny cinnamon or ferruginous. 



u canadensis. 



Wing, 17..')0-ly.(Ki inches ; culnien, 2.9(1-3.70 ; tarsus, 0.70-8.00 ; middle toe, 2.80-2.95. 



p. mexicana. 



Wing, 20.0O--22.OO inches ; culmeii, 5.00-(i.iiO ; tar.su.s, 10.00 ; middle toe. 3.50-4.10. 



In this species there is a vast amount of individual variation in both proportions and colors, 

 especially the former, scarcely two specimens being approximately alike in all their measurements. 

 As to colors, the cheeks and throat are usually grayish or light ash-gray ; but sometimes they are 

 distinctly white, in very marked contrast to the plumbeous-gray of the nape — a pieculiarity we are 

 inclined to ascribe to probable greater maturity of the individual. Besides this variati<in, the 

 plumage is frequently almost entirely devoid of any rusty .stain, while again it is very highly tinged 

 with that color. 



The shape of the bill also varies greatly, as does also the appearance of the naked part of the 

 head ; the latter is sometimes roughly granulated or almost papillose, with few hairs (as in No. 

 8914, Nebraska, in which it is also scarcely divided by the occipital feathers), while again (as in 

 No. 13440, Utah) it is densely covered, especially on the lores, with black hairs, while the occipital 

 feathers form a deep angle projecting far into the naked skin of the crown. 



Although we have as yet not been able to find specimens which were not positively the one form 

 or the other, we consider it very proliable that the two races distinguished above as canadensis and 

 mexicana will yet be found to intergrade, since we liave been wholly \inable to discover any 



