274 Zoologica : N. Y. Zoological Society. [I ; 15 



coverts, many of which have a very distinct black, oval ocellus 

 on each web, framed in the golden space. The tail-feathers are 

 dark chestnut, slender and pointed. 



The post- juvenile moult into the first year plumage initiates 

 but little change in general appearance, the rufous being richer 

 and many of the feathers having dark tips, while about the neck, 

 except on the nape, is a more or less distinct, wine-colored col- 

 lar. The rectrices are broader and longer and there are twelve 

 pairs of tail feathers in this plumage. At the succeeding moult, 

 that of the second year, the body plumage of the male becomes 

 very like that of the adult, the chief difference being in the less 

 development of the concave, terminal band of shining blue. As 

 a result of this the crimson of the breast is very pronounced. 

 The rectrices, now as many as thirty-two in number, are rich 

 rufous and very broad. 



A few weeks after this moult is completed, if a tail-feather 

 be accidentally pulled out, the one which replaces it will be pure 

 white, but in size will approximate the rufous feathers on either 

 side. Thus while the normal rufous outer tail-feather of this 

 plumage is about 117 mm. in length, and the corresponding white 

 feather of a fully adult bird 218, an adventitious white feather 

 appearing a short time after the previous moult will be inter- 

 mediate between the two. In this case the pigmental maturing 

 long antedates the change in size, and thus is avoided the dan- 

 ger which a single, long, white projecting feather might bring 

 down upon the immature bird. Strange to say, much of the 

 rachis of such an adventitious tail-feather is quite as bare as in 

 the adult, the factor of structure being again distinct from that 

 of size. 



In the adult bird, while the white of the tail is uniform 

 and complete, on the wing feathers this is as yet in process of 

 development. Some individuals show hardly a trace of the white 

 color, but in the richest plumaged birds as many as nine of the 

 primaries will be white, chiefly on the basal half or third. 



Genus Crossoptilon. 



Of the five usually recognized species of this genus I can 

 accept but three, and indeed I am not wholly satisfied that two 



