NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 
383 
Diag. — A. rostro tenue, acutissimo, compresso, flavo, plumulis hand densis 
ad medium porrectis, superioribus partibus luteis fusco-striatis. lateribus 
uropygioque semper fnsco-striatis, pedibus mediocribns, digito medio cnm 
ungue tarso aequale. 
Mas nupt. temp, jugulo, pectore, lateribus, uropygioque roseo tinctis. 
Fern, et mas juv. pectore uropygioque albidis, fusco-striatis. 
Long. 5.50 poll. ; alar. lat. 9.00 ; ala. 3.00 ; cauda 2.50 ; rostr. 0.34 ; tarsus 
0.56; dig. med. 0.35; ung. 0.22. 
Dab. Amer. Sept., prsecip. bor.; Europ. Asia. 
Description. (Adult male, in breeding plumage). — The bill is small, slender, 
exceedingly acute, much compressed, higher than broad at the base, the late- 
ral line very concave ; the culmen and gonys are about straight ; the commis- 
sure appears straight to the angle, but the cutting edge of the lower mandible 
has a considerable lobe towards the base, which being incurved, is concealed 
by the overlapping edges of the upper mandible in the closed bill. The bill is 
bright yellow, except the culmen and gonys, which are dusky. The nasal 
plumuli, though not very dense, are considerably lengthened, extending over 
half the bill. The front, lores and a rather small gular spot are blackish ; but 
•the feathers of the first have whitish tips, which give it a hoary appearance. 
There is a superciliary streak somewhat lighter than the adjacent parts, but 
it is illy defined. The entire crown is deep crimson, as in full plumaged birds 
of all the species of the genus. The sides and back of the head and neck, the 
upper parts generally to the rump, the scapulars and lesser wing coverts, are 
variegated with blackish brown and dingy yellowish ; each feather having its 
central portion of the former color, its edges and tip of the latter. On the 
rump the yellowish mostly disappears, that part being streaked with dusky 
and pure white. The wings and tail are brownish black or deep dusky ; the 
latter all round, the former only on the outer vanes edged with whitish. The 
edging is very narrow on the primaries, but on the inner secondaries and ter- 
tials becomes broad and conspicuous. The median and greater coverts are nar- 
rowly edged and broadly tipped with white, with a tinge of yellowish, form- 
ing two transverse bars on the wings. The throat, breast, sides to some 
distance, with the rump, are tinged with carmine, deepest on the breast, 
faintest on the rump. This color, though brighter than in canescens, or exilipes, 
never becomes as deep a crimson as is seen in fuscescens, having always more 
of a rosy tint, It extends along the throat, not however encroaching on the 
sides of the neck, quite to the dark gular spot, which it does not invade, but 
extends on the sides of the head almost to the eyes. Along the sides of the 
body it reaches quite to the tibiae, further than on the middle of the belly. 
There are no dusky streaks across the breast ; but these extend along the 
sides. They are pretty numerous, much more so than in exilipes, and quite 
dark ; but they are illy defined, and more or less confluent, lacking the sharp- 
ness of outline of fuscescens. The under tail coverts have dusky shaft lines. 
The feet are deep brownish black, moderately long and stout ; the middle toe 
with its claw about equal to the tarsus. The claws are moderately long, 
curved and acute, and black. 
Variations by sex , age, fyc. — -The old males in winter plumage differ from 
those in summer merely in having the crimson of the crown less intense ; the 
rosy of the breast and rump lighter and more restricted, the feathers of the 
breast being tipped with whitish for a greater or less extent ; and in a rather 
more notable amount of yellowish, especially observable on the rump and sides 
of the breast. 
The adult females either want entirely, or have but very slight traces of the 
rosy of the male on the breast and rump. The latter is generally, except in 
wanting the rosy tint, much as in the male ; but the breast has instead a light 
dingy yellowish wash, and is streaked quite across with dusky. The female 
is, moreover, usually smaller than the male. 
1861 .] 
