/ r. -- . /A <><y^tk^i 
Oidemia stejnegeri. 
(Asv^\ ^ f 
/m 
Average distance between nostril and loral feathering, — at nearest 
point, — in both male and female, a trifle greater than in deglandi . Frontal 
feathering seldom, perhaps never, advanced so far forward as the loral. 
Knob enormously developed — over once and a half as high above nostrils 
as the highest knob of deglandi , its abruptly rising front decidedly con- 
cave, the top jutting forward suddenly and forming an overhanging, very 
conspicuous, bluntly pointed projection ; the culmen somewhat higher at 
the top of this overhanging portion than at frontal feathers. 
The knobs vary greatly even among drakes which at first sight are 
seemingly mature. Closer inspection shows us that when the front of the 
knob is not deeply concave, the bird is not full} 7 developed, the basal 
black is continued far forward, shows more or less all along the lateral 
edges, and in positive lines running from the black in front of the nostrils 
to the sides of the nail. (See fig. 8 in which similar lines are indicated 
for deglandi.') On the other hand, when the front face of the knob is 
deeply concave and its top juts conspicuously to the front, the bill is 
broadly light, the black lines are absent (or very faintly and brokenly 
indicated), the black is pushed but a short distance in front of the nostrils, 
and shows but slightly along the lateral edges. Probably none of the 
color is at all as it looked in life, but the black marking is distinct enough 
fully to support what I have said. 
Though the bill passes through innumerable shapes while developing 
from that of early youth, the culminal line of which is similar to that of 
fig. i, none of its late phases closely resemble any of those exhibited by 
deglandi. 
i I am unable to judge in the case of these bills in regard to the original amount of 
black and its distribution, as they have been artificially colored. Though the artist 
who did the work is peculiarly accurate, he was forced to obtain his knowledge of the 
coloration from very unsatisfactory pictures and descriptions. 
Auk X, April. 1893. d. 105-7G. 
