12 



LAMELLIEOSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



are marked with a central stripe of deep i'ulvous, falling gracefully over the sides of the crissuni. 

 Tertials and posterior scapulars intense black, with rich velvety reflections of blue, green, and 

 purple (chiefly tlie first), in certain lights ; the longest tertial tipped with a wide bar of white, the 

 next black to the end, the third much shorter, much narrower tlian the rest, pointed, and of a dull 

 "•reenish-bronze color ; ^ middle and greater wing-coverts steel-blue, narrowly tipped with black ; 

 secondaries ("speculum") purplish steel-blue, narrowly tipped with white, and with a narrow sub- 

 terminal black bar ; primary coverts slate-color ; primaries with the exposed ends of the inner webs 

 steel-blue, the ends of the outer webs grayish or glaucous- white, becoming slate-color basally ; lining 

 of the wing spotted with slate-color and white. Sagittate longitudinal space on the culmen and 

 terminal " nail " of the bill deep polished black ; an oblong space of milk-white from nostril to the 

 " nail ; " a line or border of gamboge-yellow following the basal outline of the bill ; rest of bill 

 dark purplish red, deepening into scarlet just behind the nostril. Iris bright orange-red; eye- 

 lids deep vermilion ; legs and feet dull chrome-yellow, the webs and joints dusky.^ Total length, 

 about 19.00 inches ; extent, 29.00 ; wing, 9.00-9.50; culmen, 1.40 ; tarsus, 1.40 ; middle toe, 1.70. 

 Adult female : Feathers bordering the base of the bill all round, a space on side of the head 

 surrounding the eyes and extending back in a point toward the occiput, chin, and whole throat 



white ; remainder of the head plumbeous-gray, the 

 crown and slight occipital crest glossed with metallic 

 green ; jugulum brownish, the feathers marked cen- 

 trally with fulvous-buff, those toward the breast tipped 

 with white ; remaining lower j^arts white, the crissum 

 freckled with dusky grayish, the sides and flanks raw- 

 umber brown, spotted with brownish-white ; back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts hair-brown, glossed, in 

 certain lights, with bronze and reddish purple ; tail 

 brightly glossed with greenish bronze ; scapulars and 

 tertials olivaceous-umber, richly glossed with reddish 

 purple and bronze ; wings as in the adult male, but 

 secondaries more widely tipped with white, and the 

 . four upper greater-coverts rich metallic reddish purple, 

 more bluish in the centre, bronzy toward the edge and 

 base, and narrowly tipped with velvety black. Bill 

 dark plumbeous, the nail and longitudinal space on 

 the ciilmen black ; eyelids chrome-yellow ; iris raw- 

 sienna ; legs and feet yellowish brown.^ Total length, 

 about 17.75 inches ; extent, 28.00 ; wing, 8.50 ; cnlmen, 

 1.30; tarsus, 1.35; middle toe, 1.60. Downy young: Above, deep hair-brown, darker, or clove- 

 brown, on the pileum and tail ; a dingy wliitish bar along the posterior border of the arm-wing, 

 and a roundish spot of the same on each side of the rump. Lores, superciliary stripe extending 

 back nearly to the occiput, with lateral and under parts of the head generally, bright sulphury- 

 buff, crossed by a wide stripe of blackish brown extending from the occiput for\\-ard to the eye ; 

 remaining lower parts dingy white, the sides brownish, this crossed on the flanks by an indistinct 

 wliitish bar.^ 



1 There is in this species a very strange and probably altogether peculiar arrangement of the tertials, 

 longer scapulars, and inner secondaries, both as to form and colors. The exposed surface of the first 

 appears continuously intense black, as described above ; but upon lifting the feathers it is seen that 

 between each two there is a concealed one of different form and color — narrow and pointed, instead of 

 broad and nearly truncated, and dull bronzy, instead of deep black. Of these bronzy feathers, only the 

 last (or the longest scapular) has its tip exposed ; the innermost secondary is the longest, and is entirely 

 intense black to the tip ; the next is very much (nearly an inch) shorter, entirely concealed, and also 

 wholly black ; the third is little, if any, shorter than the first, but is marked at the end by a bioad bar of 

 pure white ; the fourth is a little shorter, without any white at the tip, and the outer web chiefly reddish 

 purple ; this, like the third, has the outer web much widened terminally. 



2 Fresh colors of a specimen killed October 19, at Mount Carmel, 111. 



3 Fresh colors of a specimen killed October 14, at Mount Carmel, 111. 



•» Describ(-(1 from No. 81725, obtained at ]\lount Carmel, 111., July 17, 1871 ; R. Ridgway, coll. 



Female. 



