SIR UNBINIDJE : SWALLO WS. 



319 



and more yellowish -olive. Sides of head like hack. Beneath yellow, clear and nearly pure 

 medially, shaded on the sides with the color of the back, sometimes brightening almost into 

 orange on the throat. Quills and tail fuscous, with olivaceous-yellow edgings, the former 

 darker than the latter. Young $ : Like the 9 ; in males changing, the characters of the two 

 sexes confused. Very young : There is an earlier strealcy stage, before the assumption of a 

 plumage like that of the 9 . Upper parts grayish-brown with an (jlive tinge ; lower parts 

 grayish-white with a yellowish shade ; both everywhere streaked with dusky. Wings and tail 

 like those of adult 9 , but the former with ochraceous bands across ends of greater and middle 

 coverts. Southern Kocky Mt. region and southward. 

 158. P. ludovicia'na. (Lat. of Louisiana, formerly of great extent in the West ; name now inap- 

 plicable.) Crimson-headed Tanager. ^, adult: Middle of back, wings, and tail, black ; 

 wings crossed by two yellow or yellowish-white bars on ends of greater and middle coverts ; 

 inner secondaries marked with white or yellowish. Head all arohnd scarlet or even crimson, the 

 color extending diluted on the breast. Other parts bright yellow, generally purest on the rump. 

 Iris brown; bill horn-color; legs livid bluish. Length about 7-00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail 

 2.75-3.25; bill 0.60; tarsus 0.75. 9, adult: Above, oUve, darker and somewhat ashy-shaded 

 on middle of back, clearer and brighter on rump and crown. Below, greenish-yellow, shaded 

 with olive on sides. Wings and and tail fuscous, with edgings of the color of the upper parts ; 

 greater and median coverts tipped with white or yellowish ; inner secondaries edged with the 

 same. Averaging rather less than the $. The bird lacks the buffy shades characteristic of 9 

 (Bstiva, besides being decidedly smaller. The general coloration, in its clear olive and yellow, 

 is exactly that of 9 rubra; from which distinguished by the white or yellow markings on the 

 wings. The ^ at first resembles the 9 i ^^'^ hi progress toward maturity every gradation 

 between the two is presented. The distinctive dark dorsal area, and traces of the red of the 

 head, soon appear. In a usual condition of incomplete dress, the black of the back is mixed 

 with gray or olive, the yellow of the back of the neck is obscured, that of the under parts is 

 shaded with olive, and the head is only partly red. Upper Missouri region and eastern foot- 

 hills of the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific ; British Columbia. Breeds in all its N. A. range and 

 winters extralimital. Habits, nests, and eggs like those of our other Tanagers. 



12. Family HIRUNDINID^ : Swallows. 



Swallows are fissirostral Oscine Passeres with 

 nine primaries. Bill short, broad, flat, some- 

 what triangular, deeply cleft, the gape wide and 

 about twice as long as the culmen, the mouth 

 thus opening to about beneath the eyes. This 

 is the strongest character of the family in com- 

 parison with its Oscine allies, and one perfectly 

 distinctive, though some genera of Hirundines, 

 especially Progne, approach the Ampelidce in 

 the form of the bill. The bill narrows rapidly 

 to the compressed acute tip. Nasal fossae short 

 and wide ; nostrils directed laterally or upward, 

 sometimes circular and completely exposed, 

 sometimes scaled over. Culmen convex, 

 scarcely a third as long as the head; tip of 

 upper mandible overhanging, usually nicked. Rictus smooth (or with, a few inconspicuous 

 bristles?). Wings extremely long and strong, the pinion bearing only 9 primaries, the 1st of 

 which equals or exceeds the 2d in length, the rest being so rapidly graduated that the 9th 



Fig. I7n. — Eiiropejin Barn Swallow, Hirundo 

 rustica. (From Dixon.) 



