498 



V. 8 P. E. E. EXP. AND StTRVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPOET. 



Female, without the white of quills, tail, and rump, and without any black or red. Above yellowish brown streaked with 

 darker ; head with a central stripe above; and a superciliary on each side, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on 

 the breast and sides. Under winsf coverts and axillars saffron yellow. Length, 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.15. 



Hab. — Eastern United States to the Missouri plains, south to Quatemala. 



In the male the black feathers of the hack and sides of the neck have a suhterminal white bar. 

 There are a few black spots on the sides of the breast just below the red. 



The young male of the year is like the female, except in having the axillaries, under wing 

 coverts, and a trace of a patch on the breast, light rose red. 



The tint of carmine on the under parts varies a good deal in different specimens. 



List of specimens. 



GUIKACA MELANOCEPHALA, Sw. 



Black-headcd Grosbeak. 



Giiiraca melanocephala, Sw. Syn. iMex. Birds, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 438.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 502. 



Coccothrausles melanocephala. Rich. List, Pr. Brit. Ass. for 1836, 1837. 



Fringilla melanocephala, AtiD. Orn. Eiog. IV, 1838, 519 ; pi. 373. 



Coccoborus melanocephalus, Ann. Synopsis, 1839, 133 — Is. Birds Amer. Ill, 1841, 214 ; pi. 206. 



Goniaphea melanocephala, Sclater? 



Hedymeles melanocephala, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 153. 



Fringilla xanlhomaschalis, Wagler, Isis, 1831, 595. 



Pitylus guttatus. Lesson, Rev. Zool. II, 1839, 102. 



9 Guirttca tricolor. Lesson, Rev. Zool. II, 1839, 102. 



Sp.Ch. — Head above and on the sides, with chin, back, wings, and tail, black. A broad median stripe on the crown, a stripe 

 behind the eye, a well marked collar on the hind neck all round, edges of interscapular feathers, rump, and under parts generally 

 pale brownish orange, almost light cinnamon. Middle of belly, axillaries, and under wing coverts, yellow. Belly just anterior 

 to the anus, under tail coverts, a large blotch at the end of the inner webs of first and second tail feathers, a band across the 

 middle and greater wing coverts, some spots on the ends of the tertiaries, the basal portions of all the quills, and the outer 

 three primaries near the tips, white. 



Female similar, with less black ; wings and tail more olivaceous, the latter unspotted ; the black of the head anteriorly 

 replaced by whitish. The under wing coverts bright yellow. Length of male, nearly 8 inches ; wing, 4.25 ; tail, 3.50. 



Hab. — High Central Plains from Yellowstone to the Pacific. Table lands of Mexico. 



This species has the bill similar to that of G. ludoviciana^ a little more swollen, perhaps, and 

 of a blackish color. The second quill is longest, then the third, fourth, and first. The tail is 

 slightly emarginate and rounded. 



