238 Life and Immortality. 
hen. Dressed in a simple garb, they look but little like 
their parents. Above they show a reddish-brown or rufous 
coloring, which fades into a rusty-white below. Excepting 
a dusky streak which starts from the posterior part of the 
eye and crosses the auricular regions obliquely downward, 
and a whitish bill, they have nothing to diversify the monot- 
ony of their plumage. But when they have attained the age 
of four or five months, they show their heredity so plainly 
that their identity cannot be disputed or mistaken. 
In the adult, the tail is reddish-brown or gray above, with 
narrow bars of black. Terminally, it is crossed by a slender 
band of pale ash, which is preceded by a broader one of 
black, and this by another of an ashy color. The upper 
parts are ochraceous-brown, and finely mottled with grayish 
markings. The lower parts are chiefly white, with broad 
transverse bars of light brown, which are mostly hidden from 
view upon the abdomen. Upon the shoulders the shafts of 
the feathers have pale streaks, which also exist in those of 
the wing-coverts. The upper tail-coverts and the wings are 
marked with pale, grayish cordate spots, while the lower tail- 
coverts are pale ochraceous, each being provided with a 
terminal delta-shaped spot of white, which is bordered with 
dusky. The neck-tufts are brownish-black. The male meas- 
ures eighteen inches in length, and has a breadth of wings 
of seven and two-tenths inches. The tail is about seven 
inches long. The female is smaller than the latter, with 
similar colors, but has less prominent tufts upon the sides of 
the neck. 
The eggs of this species are usually of a uniform dark- 
cream color, but sometimes show a nearly pure-white ground. 
In most specimens there are no markings at all, but when 
they do occur, are either quite numerous and conspicuous, 
or few in number, and obscure. They are usually ovoidal, 
but forms are occasionally met with which are nearly spher- 
ical. Their average dimensions, as obtained from specimens 
from the most diverse localities, are about 1.64 by 1,18 
