124 



the prairies. They also eat various other animal substances, as well as berries. They are gene- 

 rally in excellent flesh, and in the fall become sometimes extraordinarily fat. They are delicate 

 birds, dropping to a touch of shot." 



In my collection I have a series of nearly fifty eggs of this bird, which, however, I need not 

 describe, as I cannot add any thing to the very graphic description above by Dr. Coues. 



The specimens figured are an adult bird in full plumage, and a young bird in down, both 

 being those above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



B Mus. H. K Dresser. 



a, 6 , b, § • Wisconsin, June 5th and 9th, 1869 (Dr. Brewer), c. New Jersey (/. Krider). d, 3 . Republican 

 River, Kansas, May 26th, 1864 (Dr. E. Coues). e,f. San Antonio, Texas, spring of 1864 (H. E. D.). 

 g, 6 . Medina, Texas, April 10th, 1864 (Dr. Heermann). h. Puebla, Mexico (Rebauch). i, k, I, pulli. 

 Iowa (/. Krider). 



E Mus. Salvin and Godman. 



a. Big Blue River, Utah (Capt. J. H. Simpson), b, 5. Guadalupe Savanna, April 1862. c, d, 3 . Isthmus 

 of Panama (M' Leannan) . e. New Granada (Hiibne?'). f, <5 . Duenas, Guatemala, April 12th, 1858 

 (0. Salvin). g. Bogota. h,2- Medellin, U. S. C. (Salmon), i. Chili, March 1874 (Leijbold) . k,l,<3. 

 Pebas, E. Peru, April 8th and March 29th, 1874 (/. Hauxivell). m, 2 . Gusanga, Brazil, 1822 (Natterer). 



