20 
U. S. P. R. K. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 
invariably one or the other of the three stages described below. The tail is never red, but 
uniformly ashy brown, with transverse dark bars. 
The first and apparently most adult female is as follows : 
Bill wide at base, compressed towards the tip ; edge of upper mandible lobed ; cere large ; 
wing long, third quill longest ; tail moderate, rather wide, even at the tip ; tarsus feathered in 
front for nearly half its length, naked behind, bare portion in front having about twelve trans- 
verse scales ; toes rather short ; claws strong. 
Entire upper parts dark brown, nearly black in the middle of many feathers, paler on the 
edges ; quills brownish black, with wide transverse bands of cinereous on their inner webs, 
becoming paler and nearly pure white towards the base of the quill ; tail brown, tinged with 
ashy, and having about 10 to 12 narrow transverse bands of a darker shade of brown, the sub- 
terminal of which is widest ; tip edged with white. 
Throat white, with longitudinal lines of dark brown ; neck before and breast ashy brown, 
nearly the same color as the tail ; some of the feathers edged with reddish ; other under parts 
white, nearly pure on the under tail coverts, and with transverse irregular bars of rufous on 
the tibial and flanks, and of darker brownish rufous on the abdomen ; under wing coverts 
white, with a few spots and transverse stripes of brown ; bill dark slate color ; tarsi, toes, and 
cere, yellow. 
The color of the abdomen, tibiae, and inferior tail and wing coverts is very liable to vary in 
specimens having the preceding plumage. Other specimens, precisely as just described in 
other respects, have these parts with the rufous color predominating, and with more numerous 
transverse, irregular, and imperfect bars of a darker shade of rufous, and with some broken 
bars and arrow-heads of dark brown. Shafts of tail feathers and quills dark above, white 
beneath. 
The second plumage is, apparently, that of the younger female. The upper parts are as 
decribed above, but darker; throat white, tinged with yellowish, and with the dark lines 
scarcely discernible; breast dark brown, nearly black; other under parts pale rufous, with 
numerous transverse bars of a darker shade of rufous and of dark brown, the latter more 
numerous than in the preceding. Specimens with the breast of this color vary mainly in the 
more or less numerous daik brown transverse stripes of the abdomen and flanks. 
The third plumage prevails only in specimens labelled as males. 
The upper parts are as first above described, though rather lighter, and with some feathers, 
especially on the back, edged with rufous ; tail above rather lighter, and more strongly tinged 
with cinereous ; throat white, with lines of dark brown ; neck before and breast light rufous, 
some of the feathers with lines on the shafts of ashy brown ; other under parts white, nearly 
pure and unspotted on the lower part of the abdomen and under tail coverts, tinged and 
irregularly barred with pale rufous on the flanks, tibiae, and upper part of the abdomen ; under 
wing coverts nearly pure white. This plumage apparently varies but little, and only in the 
greater or less number of the stripes of rufous on the abdomen. The bird in this plumage is 
represented in the plate of Fauna Boreali Americana, cited above and in our plate. 
Dimensions. — Female, total length, about 21^ inches; wing 16, tail 8| inches; tarsus 2^ 
inches. Male, total length, about 19|, wing 15|, tail 8 inches. 
In all these specimens the color of the neck before and of the breast may be regarded as 
forming a wide, uninterrupted transverse belt or band, and is a very conspicuous and apparently 
constant character. The difference in the color of this belt or band is, as will be observed from 
