174 



BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



sides, flanks, and vent slightly duller and grayer ; under wing coverts 

 more extensively splashed with brownish. 



Jvwenal (sexes alike), fale phase. — Similar to the corresponding 

 stage of the ruf escent phase but much paler — ^the superciliaries, malar 

 area, lower throat, breast, and the broad margins of the feathers of 

 the upperparts from the crown to and including the upper back and 

 the upper wing coverts pinkish buff, the dark centers of the feathers 

 warm sepia to very dark raw umber.^^ 



Natal down. — Black with no or only a very faint greenish gloss on 

 the top of the head and the throat, with a dull brownish cast on the 

 back and especially on the abdomen (in dried skins) ; bill flesh color; 

 tarsi and toes jet black. 



Adult m-ale.—Wmg 73-93 (86.7) ; tail 27.5-38 (33.3) ; exposed cul- 

 men 11.5-15.5 (13.9) ; tarsus 21-27.5 (23.7) ; middle toe without claw 

 21-26 (23.9 mm. ).^* 



™ Roberts, Birds Minnesota, ii, 1932, p. 550, considers wliat is here called the 

 Juvenal plumage to be the adult and vice versa. The evidence available does 

 not support this, but the matter should not be considered as settled. 



" Fifty-nine specimens from Saskatchewan, Hudson Bay, Massachusetts, New 

 York, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, 

 Florida, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, and Cali- 

 fornia. The following more detailed mensural data may be of interest, inasmuch 

 as attempts have been made to divide this form into additional races : 



