214 
Adult male. General colour above dark slaty-grey, slightly paler on the lower back, rump, and 
upper tail-coverts, the head slightly streaked with blackish centres to the feathers; lesser wing- 
coverts like the back; the median and greater coverts, as well as the primary-coverts and quills, 
black, externally somewhat broadly edged with light slaty-grey, lending a grey aspect to the wing; 
tail-feathers black, slightly tipped with ashy, the four outer feathers with a broad white tip, 
increasing in extent towards the outermost ; lores and feathers below the eye black, extending on 
to the fore part of the ear-coverts, which are otherwise slaty-grey like the sides of the neck; chin 
and cheeks white; throat black, mottled and streaked with a few white edges or bases to the 
feathers ; fore-neck, breast, and sides of body slaty-grey, with a few black streaks on the fore-neck; 
abdomen and thighs and sides of vent pale chestnut or cinnamon, the thighs with slate-coloured 
bases; under tail-coverts white; under wing-coverts dark slaty-grey: bill black; feet and eyelids 
red. Total length 9:7 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 4:8, tail 4:15, tarsus 1:5. 
In the ten specimens procured by Mr. Townsend on Swan Island, Mr. Ridgway found 
some differences in the colour of the bill, which he describes as follows :—“ There is a curious 
variation in the colour of the bill, which in some is deep black, while in others it is deep orange or 
orange-red, the upper mandible tinged with brownish-dusky. The extremes are found in two 
males." 
Dr. Gundlach (J. f. O. 1872, p. 406) describes the young of M. rubripes as being of a duller 
colour than the adults, with dusky tips to the feathers of the crown, while the breast-feathers have 
dusky margins with pale buff centres. The wing-coverts have an ochre-coloured tip, and the 
tail-feathers are washed with rust-colour in the centre, with faintly indicated dusky cross-bars. 
The specimen described is a male bird in the Salvin-Godman Collection, received from 
Mr. Lawrence. The bird figured is from San Cristobal, collected by Dr. Gaumer, and now 
in the Seebohm Collection. (В. B. S] 
