288 



BULLETIN 50, UKITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



purple subterminally, the latter into darker and more bluish green for 

 the terminal portion (extensively); inner webs of rectrices uniform 

 blackish, slightly glossed with greenish, and outer web of outermost 

 rectrix wholly dark bronzy greenish; bill, bare orbital space, legs, and 

 feet black; iris brown, with a grayish outer ring (concealed by eyelids). 



Young. — Similar to adults, but black of head, neck, etc., much duller, 

 without metallic gloss; feathers of throat usually with the basal white 

 spots much larger, often conspicuously exposed and frequently occu- 

 pying, as large wedge-shaped spots, the central portion of the feathers 

 of chest and upper breast, as well as throat; white of scapulars and 

 sides of breast usually more or less tinged with sooty brown, espe- 

 cially on tips of feathers; grayish band across upper rump indistinct, 

 sometimes obsolete; wings and tail as in adults, but metallic colors 

 rather more brilliant; bare suborbital space much larger. 



Adult «2a^e.— Length (skins), 404-493 (459.5); wing, 181.5-211.5 

 (203); tail, 235-302.5 (268); exposed culmen, 33-39.5 (36.5); depth of 

 bill at nostrils, 11.5-15 (13.5); tarsus, 45-50 (48); middle toe, 23.5-28 

 (26). « 



Adult female.— Length (skins), 404-473.5 (440.9); wing, 190-206 

 (197.5); tail, 231.5-283.5 (259.5); exposed culmen, 31-36.5 (34.5); 

 depth of bill at nostrils, 12.5-14.5 (13); tarsus, 43-48.5 (46); middle 

 toe, 22.5-28 (25).» 



Treeless or more sparsely wooded districts of western North Amer- 

 ica, except coast and interior valleys of California; north to north- 

 western Alaska (Kowak River, Hotham Inlet, head of Bristol Bay, 

 Alaskan Peninsula, Shumagin Islands, Kadiak, etc.); south to south- 



"Fifteen specimens. 



f' Twelve specimens. 



Specimens from the coast of Alaska (Kadiak, Shumagiu Islands, Nushagak, etc.), 

 apparently have decidedly shorter tails, on the average, than those from elsewhere, 

 but with a larger series the difference may prove less marked than the following 

 measurements seem to indicate: 



The supposed female from Fort Reliance may possibly be a male, the length of 

 wings and tail slightly exceeding the same measurements of any other adult female 

 in the series measured. 



