ROCKY MOUNTAIN ANTCATCHER. 
271 
slender, being nearly two-eighths of an inch in diameter at the 
base, and only the sixteenth of an inch in the middle, whence 
it continues to diminish to the tip ; and is of a dark horn 
colour, paler beneath. The feet are dusky ; and the length of 
the tarsus is seven-eighths of an inch. The irides are dark 
brown ; the whole plumage above is of a dusky brownish, 
slightly undulated with pale, tinted with dull ferruginous on 
the top of the head and superior portions of the back. The 
sides of the head are dull whitish, with a broad brown line 
passing through the eye to the commencement of the neck. 
The chin, throat, and breast, are whitish, each feather being 
marked by a longitudinal line of light brown. The belly is 
white ; and the flanks are slightly tinged with ferruginous. 
The primaries are entirely destitute of undulations or spots ; 
the tail-coverts are pale, each with four or five fuscous bands ; 
the inferior tail-coverts are white, each being bifasciate with 
blackish brown. The tail is nearly two inches long, rounded, 
broadly tipped with ferruginous yellow, and having a narrow 
black band before the tip : the remaining part of the tail is of 
the same colour with the wings, and is obsoletely banded, these 
bands being more distinct on the two middle feathers, which 
are destitute of the black and yellowish termination ; the ex- 
terior feather is dusky at tip, marked by four yellowish- white 
spots on the exterior, and by two larger ones on the inner web. 
The specimen of the rocky mountain antcatcher we are de- 
scribing, is a male, shot in the month of July, and possibly not 
adult. As it is the only one brought by Major Long’s party, 
we cannot determine the extent or nature of the variations the 
species may undergo from age, sex, or season. 
The note of this bird is peculiar, resembling the harsh voice 
of the terns. It inhabits the sterile country bordering on the 
river Arkansaw, in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, 
where it is frequently observed hopping on the ground, or flit- 
ting among the branches, and weather-beaten, half-reclining 
trunks of a species of juniper : when it flies among the crooked 
limbs of this tree, it spreads its tail considerably, but was never 
