240 CHUCK-WILL'S WIDOW. 



as large as those of a Pigeon, and exactly oval. Early in September 

 they retire from the United States. 



This species is twelve inches long, and twenty-six in extent ; bill yel- 

 lowish, tipped with black ; the sides of the mouth are armed with nu- 

 merous long bristles, strong, tapering, and furnished with finer hairs 

 branching from each ; cheeks and chin rust color, specked with black ; 

 over the eye extends a line of small whitish spots ; head and back very 

 deep brown, powdered with cream, rust and bright ferruginous, and 

 marked with long ragged streaks of black ; scapulars broadly spotted 

 with deep black, bordered with cream, and interspersed with whitish ; 

 the plumage of that part of the neck which falls over the back is long, 

 something like that of a cock, and streaked with yellowish brown ; wing 

 quills barred with black and bright rust ; tail rounded, extending about 

 an inch beyond the tips of the wings ; it consists of ten feathers, the 

 four middle ones are powdered with various tints of ferruginous, and 

 elegantly marked with fine zigzag lines and large herring-bone figures 

 of black ; exterior edges of the three outer feathers barred like the 

 wings ; their interior vanes for two-thirds of their length are pure snowy 

 white, marbled with black and ferruginous at the base ; this white spreads 

 over the greater part of the three outer feathers near their tips ; across 

 the throat is a slight band or mark of whitish ; breast black, powdered 

 with rust ; belly and vent lighter ; legs feathered before nearly to the 

 feet, which are of a dirty purplish flesh color ; inner side of the middle 

 claw deeply pectinated. 



The female differs chiefly in wanting the pure white on the three ex- 

 terior tail feathers, these being more of a brownish cast. 



