36 



115. Tetmo canadeneia. 



Downy stage : chick about a week old. General ground-color bufE^el- 

 low. Central area of crown bright rufous, with a marginal lining of black t 

 A spot of black on the forehead and on each lore, with three nearly con- 

 fluent ones over the aurioulars. Bump yellowish-rufous. Back and wings 

 fulvous, the primaries, secondaries, wing-coverts, and scapulars barred 

 with brownish-black, Under parts immaculate. Prom a specimen in my 

 collection obtained with the female parent at Upton, Me., .June, 1873. 



First plumage : female. Ground-color above bright reddish-brown, be- 

 coming reddish-chestnut on the crown. The featiiers are marked every- 

 where with black blotches of angular outlines and irregular shapes. 

 Upon the neck and rump they form transverse bars : they are broadest 

 and most conspicuous on the scapulars, where they restrict the ground- 

 color to a narrow central lining along the shaft of the feathers, and a few 

 irregular outlying spots. Primaries and secondaries edged and tipped 

 with pale fulvous. Tail crossed by eight distinct, continuous black bars. 

 Auriculars spotted with dusky black. Throat and a broad superciliary line 

 pale buff. (It should be stated that these parts are covered with what seems 

 to be the still unchanged feathering of the chick.) Breast and sides bright 

 rufous-orange, each feather with a pair of black spots on the outer webs. 

 Upon the breast these spots are small and nearly round, but along the sides 

 they become broader until about the anal region they form transverse 

 bars. Central, abdominal, and anal regions immaculate huffy-white. 

 From a specimen in my collection obtained at Upton, Me., July 28, 1874. 

 Among the series of young males before me there are none iji strictly first 

 plumage. The moult begins early in August and proceeds very gradually, 

 a few of the feathers dropping out at a time, as they are replaced by the 

 more permanent fall plumage. The wing and tail feathers are invariably 

 moulted ; thus through the last half of August and nearly the whole of 

 September the plumage presents a curiously patched appearance. In this 

 pondition the young male may be distinguished from the female by the 

 black feathers which begin to appear if) patches on the breast. The sexes 

 are otherwise quite similar at this age. In both, the throat, cheeks, and 

 sides of the neck are profusely but rather finely spotted with black upon 

 a yellowish — in some examples ashy ^- white ground. This is unquestion- 

 ably a remnaat of the first plumage, which in the young female previously 

 described had not replaced the down. The featliers upon the throat and 

 crown are apparently the last to go, as they are not replaced in any of the 

 specimens before me until the succeeding plumage is nearly complete. 

 Both sexes acquire their full plumage during October, and by the latter 

 part of that month, adults of either sex can only be distinguished with 

 the greatest difficulty from birds of the year. 



116. iEgialitis meloda. 



Autumnal plumage : female. Differs from the adult in having the black 

 frontal crescent entirely wanting, the feathers upon the crown and back 



