84 BTJLLETESr 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



faint ashy wash on the more anterior areas, and with a pale olive 

 wash on the feathers of the more posterior parts ; upper wing coverts 

 dark rich tawny; remiges as in dark phase but washed with olive; 

 superciliaries pale cream-buff; lores, cheeks, and auriculars dusky 

 drab; the lower cheeks, malar area, and sides of upper throat pale, 

 light ochraceous-buff washed more or less with grayish; chin and 

 upper throat whitish, often pure, sometimes lightly tinged with light 

 buff; lower throat, breast, and upper abdomen light ochraceous-buff 

 darkening laterally on the breast to ochraceous-buff; flanks slightly 

 paler sepia than in the dark phase; under wing coverts with the 

 sepia areas washed with hair brown ; soft parts as in dark phase but 

 paler (in dried skins) .*° 



Jv/oeTwl (sexes alike). — Above similar to the adult, dark phase, but 

 the dark centers of the feathers of the back, etc., less fuscous, more 

 dull black, the edges grayer and less well developed on the inter- 

 scapulars and not at all developed on the lower back and rump, 

 which are uniformly blackish, the long scapulars being the only 

 feathers with well-developed tawny-olive margins; lesser and some 

 of the outer greater upper wing coverts tipped with white and 

 crossed by another narrow white band about 7 mm. anterior to the 

 tip; sides of head as in pale phase adult, but the light ochraceous- 

 buff areas cross-barred with narrow dusky lines (actually the tips 

 of the feathers) ; lower throat pale, light ochraceous-buff narrowly 

 barred with grayish hair brown to deep drab ; anterior part of breast 

 more heavily washed with pale ochraceous-buff; rest of breast and 

 entire abdomen white, crossed by broad, closely spaced, but somewhat 

 broken bands of grayish hair brown, the middle of the abdomen 

 and lower breast unbarred; sides and flanks dusky grayish olive- 

 brown barred with white or buffy white ; thighs and vent like sides of 

 breast but somewhat darker; under tail coverts and under wing 

 coverts as in adult. 



Natal down. — Short, thick, black down completely covering the head 

 and body. 



AdAilt maZe.— Wing 159-177 (163.4) ; tail 56-72.5 (65.9) ; exposed 

 culmen 58-65.5 (62.5) ; tarsus 52-64 (58.4) ; middle toe without claw 

 50.5-60 (55.1mm.)." 



""It is suggested by Bent (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 135, 1927, 262) that this 

 phase is an early adult plumage and that the dark phase is acquired later. 

 I know of no evidence supporting this statement and have yet to see a pale 

 adult molting into a dark one. The Ught phase is rarer than the dark one. 



"Eighteen specimens from Illinois, Missouri, District of Columbia, Virginia, 

 Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Elorida. 



