BIRDS-FR1NGILLIDAE-PLECTROPHANES MACCOWNII. 
437 
feathers, edged with paler. Both have the white posterior row of lesser wing coverts. The 
color of hill differs in each. 
An immature male (6291) has the black of the head mixed with brown, and a maxillary- 
series of spots on each side the throat. A female has a similar series of spots ; the under parts 
generally being brownish white, the shafts across the breast and along sides streaked with 
brown, the concealed portions of the feathers light brown, fading out to the whitish exterior. 
There is no black on the shoulder, nor chestnut on the nape. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex and 
age. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Win . Remarks. 
9115 
29951 
9218 
6290 
Fort. Thorn .... 
6292 
... 1854. 
6293 
o 
... 1854__ 
5717 
¥ 
<? 
... Aug. 1,1856 
187 
W. S. Wood. 
8924 
... Sept.20,1857 
6.60 
10 75 
8926 
6.50 
10.50 
3.50 .do. 
8925 
o 
... Aim. 14.1857 
6.00 
10.50 
3.35 Tris gray . 
PLECTROPHANES MACCOWNII, Lawrence. 
Plectrophanes maccownii, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, Sept. 1851, 122. Western Texas.— Cassin, Illust. I, vin, 
1855, 228 ; pi. xxxix. 
Sp. Ch.— Bill very stout and large. Head above, a sharply defined semi-lunar crescent on the upper part of the breast, and 
probably a short maxillary line on each side of the chin and throat, black ; rest of under parts, with a superciliary stripe, white; 
shoulders chestnut. Rest of upper parts yellowish brown, streaked with darker. External tail feather white ; the rest white, 
tipped and margined externally with brown, the white line of separation going almost transversely across the whole of the inner 
web, instead of running forward in an acute point. The innermost feather like the back. 
Length, about5.50 ; wing 3.GO ; tail, 2.50 ; bill above .46. 
Hub .—Eastern slopes of Rocky Mountains ; from Fort Thorn, N. M., as far east as the Black Hills north of Platte. 
In this species the hill is considerably larger and stouter than in any other I have seen. It 
measures .46 of an inch above, and the distance between the basal portions of the upper and 
under outlines amounts to .31 of an inch. The tail is quite deeply forked. The claws appear 
to he straighter than in the other species ; the hinder one unusually short, measuring only .36 
of an inch. 
The most perfect specimen before me does not appear to he quite mature, although the 
markings are pretty well indicated. There is only a faint trace of a black maxillary line. 
There is no trace of the chestnut or rufous collar seen in all the other North American species, 
excepting P. nivalis. The loral region and line over the eye are brownish white, purer behind. 
The upper rows of lesser coverts immediately along the edge of the wing are like the back, not 
chestnut, like the rest of these coverts. The peculiarity of the transverse termination of the 
white in the exterior tail feathers, I have seen in no other species. The innermost feather has 
