tail-coverts brown with ashy margins ; wing-coverts black, slightly glossed with steel-bine, the 

 inner greater coverts slightly edged with ashy whitish ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills 

 blackish, the inner secondaries with narrow ashy margins at the tips of the feathers ; tail-feathers 

 blackish with a greenish gloss; crown of head glossy steel-blue, separated from the back by an 

 indistinct collar of ashy brown ; forehead pale sandy buff ; lores and a narrow frontal band black ; 

 ear-coverts, cheeks, and sides of face deep chestnut-rufous, spreading on to the sides of the hind 

 neck ; chin also deep chestnut-rufous, glossed with a few steel-blue feathers, the lower throat 

 entirely glossy steel-blue, forming a patch ; fore neck and chest light ashy brown washed with 

 rufous ; the sides of the body and flanks similarly coloured, with narrow dusky shaft-lines on the 

 flanks; centre of the breast and abdomen whitish with a slight tint of brown ; vent pale rufous; 

 under tail-coverts ashy brown, darker towards the ends, the feathers distinctly margined with 

 white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries ashy brown, distinctly tinged with rufous, especially 

 near the edge of the wing; quills dark ashy brown below. Total length 5 - 3 inches, culmen 0'3, 

 wing 4'35, tail 2'05, tarsus 0'45. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour. Total length 5 - 5 inches, culmen 0"3, wing 4"4, tail 2 - 15' 

 tarsus - 5. 



The length of wing in the males varies from 4\2 to 4'4 inches, and the bulk of the female birds in the 

 Henshaw collection measure 4 - 2 or 4*3 inches, but two specimens, both marked females, have a 

 wing of 4 - 45 inches, so that there is probably very little difference in the size of the two sexes. 



Young. Dull blackish, with rufescent margins to the feathers, the head duller than the back, which has 

 a slight shade of blue ; the reddish forehead only faintly indicated and having a few white 

 feathers intermixed ; a slight indication of a rufescent collar on the hind neck ; upper tail-coverts, 

 wings, and tail brown, with ashy rufous margins to the tail-coverts, greater wing-coverts, and 

 inner secondaries ; sides of face blackish brown, with a white feather or two on the ear-coverts ; 

 cheeks and throat chestnut, the lower tlrroat black, all these parts irregularly spotted with white; 

 remainder of the under surface of body as in the adults, but the rufous on the chest and sides 

 very strongly marked, and the under tail-coverts broadly edged with rufous. 



The amount of white markings on the throat and forehead in the young birds varies greatly. 

 Some of them have abundance of wliite on the throat and none on the forehead, whde others 

 have the forehead thickly spotted, but show no white at all on the throat. By the end of July the 

 original colour of the bird becomes much obliterated, the upper surface is dusky blackish with- 

 out any blue, the cinnamon rump and the rufous of the under surface almost disappear by abrasion, 

 and it is perfectly comprehensible that the body-feathers must be renewed before the bird migrates 

 to summer climates. 



The series in the Henshaw collection is very complete, and shows all the stages of plumage excepting 

 the absolute nestling. Both sexes are equally bright in colour when they arrive in May, and the 

 rufous on the forehead is strongly pronounced. During June the frontal band bleaches to whity 

 brown, but by the end of July the whole of the feathers are very much worn and discoloured, and 

 the whitish edgings to the under tail-coverts become completely abraded, while most of the white 

 streaks on the back disappear. The plumage of the hen bird appears to suffer more than that of 

 the male, and the black spot on the throat is all but obliterated. 



That the moult of the old birds commences before they leave their northern home is proved by 

 a female bird procured at Washington on the 11th of August which is beginning to renew its 

 body-feathers. In the case of the young birds the moult is often much advanced, and in a series 



