288 TACHYERES CINEREUS 



Iris brown. Bill bright yellow, coarse and caruneulated at base. Legs and feet yellow. 



Wing 252-283 mm., average 267; bill 55H36, average 60; tarsus 66-79, average 73. These measure- 

 ments are based on seventeen carefully sexed and obviously old males from London Island, Ancud, 

 Chile, and the Straits of Magellan. 



Weight 10 to 12 pounds and probably to 14 pounds (Coppinger) (4.53 to 5.44 or 6.35 kilograms). 

 The great weights attributed to this species by the older voyagers (up to 22 pounds) are patent 

 exaggerations. 



Adult Female (gray phase, Tachycres cinereus) : Size somewhat smaller; color same as in male; wing 

 with carpal spur same as in male. 



Iris brown. Bill yellow or yellowish but not such a clear or brilliant yellow as in the male. Legs 

 and feet yellow. 



Wing 245-270 mm., average 257; bill 55-63, average 59; tarsus 65-72, average 68. These measure- 

 ments based on ten carefully sexed old females from Chiloe Island and Ancud, west coast of Chile. 



Immature or Juvenal Plumage, Male and Female : We know that there are individuals which do 

 not pass through any red or reddish-tinted phase. Whether these are exclusively the young of the 

 gray phase (Tachyeres cinereus) we do not know. A specimen in juvenal plumage from Cape Horn 

 with the primaries not yet fully developed (Museum of Comparative Zoology, No. 3318) is gray all 

 over the upper side and without the prominent wine-colored edges to the feathers on the breast, sides 

 and flanks. Abdomen white as in the adult; whole head and neck gray with some rust color on the 

 cheeks and lower side of neck, but not nearly so dark or so ruddy as in most examples of the red phase 

 (Tachyeres patachonicus). In other words, this young bird does not look as though he were going to 

 pass through the extreme dark and ruddy phase to be described below. 



Bill probably dark greenish on the culmen and lighter below. Legs and feet yellow. 



Wing not yet developed; bill 47 mm.; tarsus 63 (rather large for the red type). 



Adult Male and Female (red phase, Tachyeres patachonicus?) : Many of these birds (I have studied 

 some forty-three specimens) do not suggest youth. They are mostly uniform in coloring, with adult 

 tail-feathers, and in many cases the carpal spur is well developed. There are no apparent sex dif- 

 ferences. Pileum rusty gray, markedly ruddy at times on forehead. There is a white patch above and 

 below the eye extending backward toward the ear and diminishing in prominence. Lores, cheeks and 

 sides of neck chocolate brown to dark wine-color; chin, throat and under side of neck chestnut to brick 

 red. The mantle, scapulars, breast and sides are gray, very dark and lead-colored on sides of breast 

 and often inclining to brick red on the breast, when the dark tips of the feathers are worn off. All 

 these regions have the margins of the feathers a rusty or chocolate brown which in fresh plumage 

 gives the whole bird a brownish or wine-colored look. Back, rump, tail and abdomen as in the 

 gray phase. This plumage certainly may be retained for one year, and perhaps much longer. 

 Possible transitions between this and the gray phase are discussed below. 



Bill, in life yellowish above, and bluish or greenish below nostril, nail black. In dried skins nearly 

 always dark lead-color all over culmen, sometimes slightly yellowish toward base, but never yellow 

 all over as in Tachyeres cinereus. The bill is less "coarse;" smooth and without definite carunculation 

 at base. Legs and feet yellowish, very nearly, if not quite the same as in Tachyeres cinereus. 



Wings: male, average 286 mm.; female, 275 mm.; bill: male, average 52; female, 51; tarsus: male, 

 average 60.3; female, 56. Individuals with a good deal longer wings have been recorded (Morgensen, 

 1917). 



Weight from 7 to 8.9 pounds (3.17 to 4.03 kilograms). 



This series of measurements from the Brewster-Sanford collection mostly from Ancud and Chiloe 

 Island, brings out the curious fact that although these "red" birds are much smaller in size and weight 



