21 



63. Ammodromus maritimus. 



First plumage. Abbve light olive-brown, with dusky streakings, broad- 

 est upon the interscapular region, narrower and more uniformly distrib- 

 uted upon the occiput and nape. A broad superciliary stripe of fulvous 

 extending backward to the occiput, finely spotted with dusky upon its 

 posterior half. Sides of head duU'olive, with irregular patches of fulvous. 

 Wing-bands of pale fulvous upon the greater and middle coverts. Beneath 

 pale brownish-yellow, fading to soiled white posteriorly. Sides, and a 

 broad continuous band across the breast, spotted with dull brown. From 

 a specimen iu my collection, taken at Bath, Long Island, September, 1872. 



64. Ammodromus caudaoutus. 



First plvmage : male. General coloring, both above and beneath, bright 

 reddish-brown, nearly as in the superciliary stripe of the adult. Feathers 

 of interscapular region streaked centrally with dark brown ; nape brownish- 

 olive, unspotted. Two broad stripes of dark brown on the sides of crown. 

 Wings and tail scarcely more reddish than in adult. Sides of head with 

 fewer dark markings. Sides of breast somewhat thickly streaked with 

 dusky ; otherwise iinmarked. From a specimen in my collection, taken 

 at Bye Beach, K. H., August 20, 1869. It i^not a little remarkable that 

 in a family whose young are nearly without exception more thickly 

 streaked or spotted than their parents, — and often, indeed, conspicuously 

 marked in this manner, when the parent is entirely plain, — this bird in 

 first plumage should exhibit less streaking beneath than the adult, which 

 has not only a continueus band of dusky markings across the breast, 

 but also the sides thickly marked in a similar manner. In view of 

 this fact, the further development of the young is most interesting. 

 When the autumnal plumage is acquired, the dusky streakings upon the 

 sides of the breast are entirely lost, and do not again appear until after the 

 spring moult, when, as previously stated, they are distributed over much 

 larger areas. A nearly analogous case of development is afforded by the 

 Arctic and Wilson's Terns, whose young have the bill and feet at first pale 

 red or yellow, afterwards dusky or nearly black, and >gain, when fully 

 adult, deeper and clearer red than when first from the nest. 



65. Melospiza palustril. ? 



First plumage : female. Crown blackish, each feather obscurely tipped 

 with lighter. Best of upper parts reddish-brown, every feather streaked 

 centrally with dull black. Beneath dull ferruginous-brown, fading to 

 soiled white on the abdomen, streaked thickly but narrowly with dull 

 black everywhere excepting on the abdomen. Sides of 'head dusky, with 

 irregular patches of dark brown. No appreciable ashy anywhere. From' 

 a specimen in my collection taken at Cambridge, Mass., June 24, 1872. 

 Specimens in first plumage show considerable variation in the amount of 

 streaking beneath. Some are so faintly marked that at a little distance 



