434 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



Under plumage hair-brown, mixed on the ears and sides of the neck with yellowish-brown ; 

 under tail coverts darker ; axillaries and inner wing coverts pitch-black. Interior of the 

 quills greyish-brown, paler than any other part of the plumage. Bill greenish-black. Legs 

 and feet shining velvet-black. 



Form, typical. — Bill, towards the base, nearly cylindrical, being very slightly higher than 

 broad ; culmen rounded ; upper mandible, towards the end, rather hooked, and destitute of 

 a distinct notch ; the cutting margins at that part being slightly inflexed, so as to produce 

 the appearance of an obsolete notch, although the margins are actually entire. (This forma- 

 tion is frequently seen in the Pigeon family. — Sw.) Wings an inch longer than the lateral tail 

 feathers ; primaries acute, secondaries truncated. Tail of twelve feathers ; the central pair, 

 three inches longer than the adjoining ones, much acuminated ; the others are more or 

 less truncated and emarginate, the tip of the shaft projecting into a short acuminated 

 mucro or point ; the tail is graduated, the exterior feathers being eight lines shorter than 

 the pair next the middle. Thighs bare for eight lines. Tarsi protected anteriorly by 

 strong falciform or crescentic scutelli ; reticulated behind, as well as the knee and tarsal 

 joints ; the soles of the feet and sides of the toes and membranes are covered with small 

 thick scales, which have each a raised central ridge, or a sharp point. 











Dimensions. 

















Inch. 



Lin. 







Inch 



Lin. 







Inch. 



Lin. 



Length 



, total . . 22 



8 



Leu 



gth of bill above 



1 



1 



Lens 



tth of middle nail 







4± 



it 



excluding centra] tail 







„ of bill to rictus 



. 1 



10 



, 



, of inner toe . 



. 



ll'| 





feathers . .19 



C 





„ of tarsus 



1 



10 



, 



, of hind toe 







2A 



„ 



of central pair . 9 









,, of middle toe 



. 1 



5 





of hind nail . 



. 



1* 



it 



of wing . 13 























— R. 



