178 
Brewster’s Descriptions of the First Plumage 
88. Empidonax minimus. 
First plumage : male. Similar to the adult, but with a stronger olive 
cast, and a faintly indicated collar of ashy-brown across the nape. Wing- 
bands light reddish-brown. Beneath almost precisely similar to the adult, 
with perhaps a slightly stronger yellowish cast upon the abdomen and 
crissum. Distinguishable from E. trailli and E. acaclicus in corresponding 
stages by the decidedly paler and less yellowish under parts ; especially 
by the nearly clear ashy on the sides of the breast. From a specimen in 
my collection taken at Cambridge, Mass., July 2, 1872. Other specimens 
in first plumage before me differ little from the one above described, but 
autumnal specimens , singularly enough, are much yellower below and 
more olivaceous above. 
89. Empidonax flaviventris. 
First plumage : ■ male. Above uniform yellowish-olive. Beneath dull 
yellow, with a brownish cast, tinged strongly with olive upon the throat, 
breast, and sides. Wing-bands brownish-yellow. Altogether very similar 
in general appearance to the adult. From a specimen in my collection 
shot at Upton, Me., August 4, 1874. 
90. Chordeiles virginianus. 
First plumage. Above dull black, irregularly marbled everywhere with 
reddish fawn-color and pale rusty. All the feathers are tipped, edged, and 
barred with the lighter colors, the black appearing for the most part in 
subterminal spots or blotches. The primaries (which are but just sprout- 
ing) are black, broadly tipped with pale rusty. Under parts clothed 
thickly with fluffy whitish down, beneath which, on the breast and sides, 
true feathers of a dull white barred with dark brown are beginning to 
appear. From a specimen in the cabinet of Mr. N. C. Brown, taken at 
Deering, Me., June 29, 1875. It seems probable that young of this species 
— and perhaps of the whole family, like those of the Tetraonidce and some 
others — pass through a stage of plumage previous to the usual primal 
one. The specimen above described is, strictly speaking, in process of 
transition between the two, and still retains patches of the soft whitish 
down which must have constituted its entire covering at an earlier period. 
91. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. 
First plumage : female. Above lustrous plumbeous-ashy, feathers upon 
the crown, nape, and anterior part of the back, narrowly tipped with pale 
ashy ; those of the interscapular region and rump, together with the scap- 
ulars and upper tail-coverts, more broadly so with ashy-white. Outer edges 
of quills light rufous. Beneath delicate pearl-gray, lightest on the abdo- 
men, slightly tinged with pale brownish-yellow on the throat and breast. 
From a specimen in my collection shot in Lincoln, Mass., June 17, 1871. 
Autumnal specimens (probably only the young birds) differ from spring 
adults in having the naked skin around the eye yellow instead of red. 
