4G0 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Astur atricapillu.i var. strialulus (part) Kidgw. in B. B. & K. Ilist. N. Am. B. lii. IS74, 

 238. a39. 240 (adult). 



Hab. Northern North America (except coast of Alaska, east and south of Kodiak); 

 south in winter across greater part of the United States (PaciHc coast excepted), breed- 

 ing chiefly north of the United States. (Kepresented in the rac-iflc province by A. 

 alricapillus striatulus Ridgw.) 



Sp. Char. AduU male Qio. 44,940. Boston. Mass.: E. A. Samuels). Above continuous 

 blui.sh slate, shafts of the feathers inconspicuously black. Tail darker and less bluish, 

 tipped with white (about .25 of an inch wide) and crossed by live broad, faintly dellned 

 bars of blackish, these most distinct on inner webs: the first concealed by the upper 

 coverts, the second partially so; the last, or subterminal one, which is about twice as 

 broad as the rest, measuring about one inch in width. Primaries darker than the tail 

 (but not approaching black). Forehead, crown, occiput, and ear-coverts pure plumbeous 

 black, feathers snow-white beneath the surface, much exposed on the occiput: a broad 

 conspicuous supra-auricular stripe originating above the posterior angle of the eye, 

 running back over the ear-coverts to the occiput, pure white, with fine streaks of black: 

 lores and cheeks grayish white. Lower parts white; the whole surface (except throat 

 and lower tail-coverts) covered with numerous narrow transverse bars of slate: on the 

 breast these are much broken and irregular, forming fine transverse zigzags; pos- 

 teriorly they are more regular, and about .10 of an inch wide, the white a very little 

 more. Chin, throat, and cheeks without transverse bars, but with very sharp shaft- 

 lines of black ; on breast, sides, and abdomen, a median longitudinal broad streak of 

 slate on each feather, the shaft black: on the tibiiE. where the transverse bars are nar- 

 rowerandmore regular, the shaft-streaks are also liner; anal region finely barred; 

 lower tail-coverts immaculate pure white. Lining of the wing barred more coarsely 

 and irregularly than the breast: under surface of primaries with white prevailing, this 

 growing more silvery toward the ends; longest (fourth) with six oblique transverse 

 patches of slate, the outlines of which are much broken. Wing formula, 4,5,S-6-2, 1=10. 

 Wing, 13.00; tail, 9.50; tarsus, 3.70; naked portion. 1.35; middle toe. 2.00; inner. 1.21; outer. 

 1.37; posterior. 1.00. 



^di(?</f-ma!e (No. 12,239,Brooklyn.N. T.: J, Ackhurst). Almost precisely similar to 

 the male. Slate above less bluish; bands on tail more distinct, five dark ones (about .75 

 of an inch in width) across the brownish slate; indistinct lighter bands indicated on 

 outer webs of primaries, corresponding with those on inner webs: lores more grayish 

 than in male; bars beneath more regular; longitudinal streaks blacker and more sharply 

 defined. Wing.14.25: tail. 11.25; tarsus. 1.60-2.20; middle toe. 1.95; inner. 1.40; outer.1.45; 

 posterior, 1.30. 



Young male (No. 26.920. Nova Scotia. June: J. G. Winton). Plumage very much vari- 

 egated. Head above, nape, and anterior portion of the back, ochraeeous white, each 

 feather with a median stripe of brownish black, these becoming more tear-shaped on the 

 nape. Scapulars, back, wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts umber-brown; the 

 feathers with lighter edges, and with large, more or less concealed spots of white, these 

 largest on the scapulars, where they occupy the basal and middle thirds of the feathers, 

 a band of brown narrower tlian the subterminal one separating the two areas; upper tail- 

 coverts similarly marked, but white edges broader, forming conspicuous terminal 

 crescentic bars. Tail cinereous umber, with five conspicuous bands of blackish brown, 

 the last of which is subterminal. and broader than the rest; tip of tail like the pale bands; 

 the bands are most sharply defined on the inner webs, being followed along the edges by 

 the white of the edge, which, frequently extending along the margin of the back, crosses 

 to the shaft. and is sometimes even apparent on the outer web; the lateral feather has 

 the inner web almost entirely white, this, however, more or less finely mottled with 

 grayish, the mottling becoming more dense toward the end of the feather; the bands also 

 cross more obliquely than on the middle feathers. Secondaries grayish brown, with 

 five indistinct, but quite apparent, dark bands; primaries marked as in the adult, 



