148 



NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



plumage is of a pale colour intermediate between oil-green and wax-yellow, the under tail 

 coverts approaching to ochre-yellow. Bill blackish -brown. Legs black. 



Form, &c. — Bill depressed, broad, its breadth at the forehead being rather more than half 

 its length ; its sides are slightly convex, and meet in a straight ridge, which is terminated by 

 a small hooked tip. The nostrils are partly concealed by feathers and bristles, and there are 

 four or five stiff bristles projecting from the angles of the mouth. The tips of the wings, when 

 folded, are more than an inch short of the end of the tail, and barely reach to half its length. 

 The third and fourth quill feathers are the longest, the second and fifth are equal to each 

 other, and slightly shorter than these ; the sixth is a quarter of an inch shorter than the 

 fourth, and the first is intermediate in length between the sixth and seventh. The tail is 

 distinctly forked, the exterior feather being a quarter of an inch longer than the middle ones. 



Length from the tip of the hill to the end of 

 the tail ..... 



,, of the tail .... 



„ of the longest quill feather 



,, of the folded wing 



,, of the hill from the angle of the 

 mouth ...... 





Dimensions. 







ches. 



Lines. 



Length of the bill, measured on its ridge 



Inches. 

 . 



Lines 

 C 



c 



8 



,, of the tarsus 



. 



n 



2 



9 



,, of the middle toe 







5§ 



2 



11 



,, of its claw 



. 



21 



3 



3 



„ of the hind toe 







3 







,, of the hind nail . 



. 



3 



— R.* 



* The following differences in the colour of the plumage, which were detected by comparing a fine specimen of 

 Tyrannula nunciola, killed in Pennsylvania, and now in Mr. Swainson's museum, with the new species, may be men- 

 tioned in addition to the specific distinctions noticed in the preceding page. In T. nunciola the upper aspect of the 

 head is pitch-black ; in T. Richardsonii it is very dark greyish-brown, without any approach to black. The dorsal 

 plumage in both presents tints of hair-brown, but in the former the colour is a little clearer. The quill and tail feathers 

 are blackish-brown in T. nunciola, and their shafts are black; in T. Richardsonii they are liver-brown, and the shafts 

 are umber-brown. In T. nunciola the tips of the greater coverts are pale yellowish-grey, and the secondaries and 

 tertiaries are rather broadly edged exteriorly with white ; these parts in T. Richardsonii appear merely of a paler 

 brown, as if faded or worn. The under plumage in T. nunciola is a clear primrose-yellow ; whereas in T. Richardsonii 

 it is straw or ochre-yellow posteriorly, and on the throat and sides of the breast is intermixed with much brownish- 

 grey. We may add also, with regard to structure, that the most decided difference appears in the greater stoutness of 

 the legs and feet of T. nunciola. The middle scales of the tarsus wrap round it with some degree of obliquity, there 

 being no smaller scales interposed at the suture behind, except near the joints; whereas in T. Richardsonii the posterior 

 part of the tarsus is covered throughout its whole length by an intervening row of smaller scales, and the anterior 

 scales are transverse, not oblique. 



Inches. 

 Length from the tip of the bill to the end 



of the tail 8 



,, of the tail .... 3 



,, of the longest quill feather . . 3 



„ of the folded wing ... 3 

 „ of the bill on its ridge . . .0 



Dimensions 









Of T. nunciola. 









Lines. 







Inches. 



Length 



of the hill to the angle of the 



mouth 



7 



of the tarsus 





. 



« 



of the middle toe 









o 



of the middle nail 





. 



H 



of the hind toe 









7 



of the hind nail . 





. 



Lines. 



10| 



8 



4f 



n 



H 



3 



