404 
* PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
margins of the feathers ; primaries blackish with white marks on their outer 
webs. Tail sometimes grayish at the base with white tips, or pure white. 
Under parts pure white, with a black V-shaped mark near the centre of the 
feathers on the breast and flanks, gradually growing smaller and fainter, as 
they approach the abdomen and vent. The white feathers of the legs are 
hair-like and extend over the toes quite to the nails. Bill black ; feet dark 
brown. 
Habitat. — Arctic America, plentiful around Hudson’s Bay, but never found 
within the limits of the United States. 
Supplementary note to a “ Synopsis of the North American Forms of the 
COLYMBIDIE and PGDXCEPIDiE ” 
BY ELLIOTT COUES. 
Since the publication of my paper on the Loons and Grebes of North Amer- 
ica, the Smithsonian Institution has received, from J. Hepburn, Esq. , of San 
Francisco, California, what has long been a great desideratum in its collec- 
tions, a specimen of JEchmophorus Clarkii in full plumage. The interest 
attaching to the elucidation of this hitherto undetermined question in Amer- 
ican ornithology induces me to offer the following brief notice of the points in 
which the nuptial dress differs from the ordinary well known winter plumage. 
The specimen alluded to, Mr. Hepburn states, was shot in the latter part of 
April, and is a female. 
iEcmioPHORus Clarkii, Coues. — (Adult female, breeding plumage.) — The 
Chrome yellow of the under mandible, and of the tip and cutting edges of the 
upper, is very bright, and in marked contrast with the quite pure black of 
the culmen. The bare loral space is leaden blue. The crown, occiput, and 
neck behind are very deep grayish black, almost pure black on the occiput, 
and fading gradually along the neck, into the blackish gray of the back and 
upper parts generally, which color is scarcely, if at all, deeper than in the 
average of winter specimens. The white space between the eye and bill is 
very broad, and remarkably pure. The throat, neck before, and whole under 
parts are of a beautiful silky white, the line of demarcation of the black and 
white on the sides of the head and neck being remarkably distinct. There is 
a decided occipital crest ; the feathers of that region are about one inch in 
length, and have the peculiar filiform character common to the crests of birds 
of this family. This crest, however, on the dried skin lies quite smoothly, 
and is not very conspicuous except on raising the feathers. There are no 
decided colored ruffs ; but the white feathers of the sides of the head posteriorly, 
and across the throat, are longer and fuller than elsewhere, particularly the 
former. Although this elongation is hardly noticeable in the dried skin, it is 
doubtless sufficient to give to the bird when in life something of the appear- 
ance presented by paost of the species of this family. In other respects the 
specimen before me does not differ materially from the winter series. 
I have always been of opinion that the two birds which I have recently 
separated generically from Podiceps would not possess the conspicuous colored 
ruffs for which the type of the genus (P. cristatus ) is so noted. The suppo- 
sition to that effect, doubtfully set forth in my last paper, is now verified in 
the case of one of the species of the genus, and I have no doubt that the nup- 
tial plumage of JEchmophorus occidentalis will be perfectly analogous to that 
exhibited by the species under consideration. 
A specimen of Podiceps (Pr octopus) californicus, in full summer plumage, 
has also been received from Mr. Hepburn. It presents the same marked dif- 
ferences from the European P. auritus as do all the other specimens from North 
America which have fallen under my observation ; and is additional confirma- 
tion of the position assumed with regard to the specific distinction of the 
American and European birds. They are quite distinct species and recogni- 
zable in either adult or young plumage. 
[Sept. 
