278 University of California Publications in Zoology ["V^ol. 24 



bright yellow outer margins, but the yellow color is not restricted to 

 the individuals that have this "return margin." Some of the birds 

 with the primary markings absolutely confined to the outer feather 

 margins still have them of brilliant yellow. None of the birds with 

 white primary spots have the "return margin." 



There are several birds of both sexes at hand with more or less 

 indication of red at the tips of the tail feathers. This is never at all 

 conspicuous, and is usually confined to the shaft of the feather at the 

 extreme tip. In one or two instances the color spreads out over the 

 adjoining vane, but without any coalescing of the red colored barbs; 

 not one bird in the series has any well defined wax tips to the tail 

 feathers similar to those on the secondaries. There is some variation 

 in the yellow tip to the tail feathers, both in intensity of yellow and 

 in the breadth of the marking. There are also some specimens with 

 one or more tail feathers longer or shorter than the rest and of a 

 dijfferent tone of yellow, giving the appearance of having been held 

 over from a previous plumage. 



Stevenson {loc. cit.) after careful study of the extensive series of 

 birds at his disposal was unable to discover any external character dis- 

 tinguishing male from female, though he was inclined to believe "that 

 the assumption of the yellow tinge [on the primary markings] is prob- 

 ably more gradual in the female than in the male. ' ' The series before 

 the present writer does not shed any additional light upon this ques- 

 tion. Although there is considerable variation in the character of wing 

 and tail markings, it appears to be purely individual. It so happens 

 that the brightest colored bird of the lot is a female (Mus. Vert. Zool. 

 no. 17437, sexed by C. I. Clay). In size (but not in number) of wax 

 wing tips, in "return margins" of primaries, in yellow on primaries, 

 and in size of white spots on secondaries, it is superior to any of the 

 males. In this bird the wax secondary tips are 7 mm. in length, a size 

 attained by only one or two males. 



The brood of. young birds we collected was naturally of more than 

 ordinary interest. The nest was discovered on June 24, containing 

 five young not more than two or three days old. On July 5 we re- 

 turned. The nest was in a slender tree that swayed under the least 

 pressure, and at the first disturbance the young birds fiuttered to the 

 ground. The brood was about two weeks old at this time. In two or 

 three days more, at most, all would have left the nest voluntarily. 

 The brood consisted of four males and one female. 



