99 



lower tail-coverts immaculate pure wliite. Lining of tbe wing white, 

 with numerons cordate spots of rufous; under wing-coverts with trans- 

 verse blackish bars; under side of primaries silvery-white, purest 

 basally (tips dusli.v), crossed with quadrate bars of dusky, of which 

 there are six (the first only indicated) upon the longest quill (fourth). 

 "Wing, 9.35; tail, S.oO ; culmen, 0.G8; tarsus, 2.45; middle toe, 1.55. 

 Fourth quill longest; third shorter than f3fth; second intermediate 

 between sixth and seventh; first, 2.80 shorter than longest; graduation 

 of tail, 1.00. 



No. 12,024, Fort Tejon, Cal.; J. Xantus (type of description of 

 var. mexicamis, adult male, in History North American Birds, iii, 

 p. 231) : — Forehead, crown, and occiput plumbeous-black, feathers of the 

 latter with basal two-thirds snowy-white. Upper plumage deep plum- 

 beous, darkest anteriorly, the back being scarcely lighter than the 

 nape; rump fine bluish-plumbeous. No concealed white on the upper 

 parts. Tail brownish-plumbeous, narrowly tipped with pure w^hite, and 

 with four sharply-defined broad bands of black, the first of which is 

 faintest, and concealed by the coverts, the last broadest; shafts of 

 tail-featbers deep brown throughout. Primaries and secondaries much 

 darker than the tail, and more bluish ; less so, however, than the 

 scapulars. Lores whitish, quite in contrast with the black of the 

 forehead ; cheeks and ear-coverts dark ashy, slightly washed with 

 reddish, and with obscure darker streaks ; chin and throat white, with 

 sparse, hair-like shaft-streaks of black. Breast, abdomen, sides, flanks, 

 and tibiae fine Tinaceousrufous, the feathers (except on tibite) with fine 

 hair-like shaft-streaks of black ; breast, abdomen, sides, and iianks with 

 pairs of transverse elliptical white spots, not touching the shaft; on 

 the abdomen, the white and rufous bars are of about equal width; on 

 the tibine, the rufous is deepest, and exceeds the white in amount; anal 

 region barred with rufous, more faintly than the abdomen; lower tail- 

 coverts immaculate snowy-white. Sides of the neck deep reddish-ashy, 

 this washing the whole side of the breast. Lining of the wing reddish- 

 white, with numerous crow^ded, cordate, somewhat blended spots of 

 rufous ; larger coverts transversely spotted with blackish ; under side 

 of primaries silvery-white (blackish for about the terminal inch), crossed 

 with quadrate spots of blackish, of which there are about seven on the 

 longest quill (fourth) ; the basal ones are, however, so much broken 

 that the number is rather indefinite. Wing, 9.10; tail, 8.20; culmen, 

 0.65 ; tarsus, 2.60 ; middle toe, 1.50, 



No. 66,237, Westfield, Mass., October 10, 1846:— Very similar to the 

 preceding (No. 12,024), but even darker, the rufous of the lower parts 

 deeper, and the ashy tinge on the side of the breast still stronger. 

 Wing, 9.20 ; tail, 8.15 ; culmen, 0.05 ; tarsus, 2.55 ; middle toe, 1.50. 



No. 6,874, Sacramento Yalley, California, dilfers from the two preced- 

 ing in having the entire breast barred with rufous and white, instead of 

 having the sides ashy, the white bars restricted to the middle portion ; 

 the black of the pileum terminates abruptly on the occiput, and the 

 sides of the neck are tinged with rusty, as in females. Wing, 9.30; 

 tail, 8.15; culmen, 0.60; tarsus, 2.45 ; middle toe, 1.50. It resembles 

 No. 10,086, except that the colors are uniformly of a darker shade 

 throughout. 



No. 2,554 (Mus. R. E.), Washington, D. C, differs from No. 10,086, in 

 paler colors and more delicate shades; the sides of the breast have a 

 distinct wash of pearly-ash, while the nape is pale bluish-ash, lighter 

 than tbe back, and abruptly defined against the dark-plumbeous crown. 

 Wing, 9.40 ; tail, 8.30 ; culmen, 0.65 ; tarsus, 2.50 ; middle toe, 1.55. 



