498 
U. S P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY-GENERAL REPORT. 
Female, without the white of quills, tail, and rump, and without any black or red. Above yellowish brown streaked with 
darker ; head with a central stripe above, and a superciliary on each side, white. Beneath dirty white, streaked with brown on 
the breast and sides. Under wing coverts and axillars saffron yellow. Length, 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.15. 
Hab .—Eastern United States to the Missouri plains, south to Guatemala. 
In the male the black feathers of the back and sides of the neck have a subterminal white bar. 
There are a few black spots on the sides of the breast just below the red. 
The young male of the year is like the female, except in having the axillaries, under wing 
coverts, and a trace of a patch on the breast, light rose red. 
The tint of carmine on the under parts varies a good deal in different specimens. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex anil 
age. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
ol'wing!?. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
6945 
$ 
Donald Gunn...... 
2455 
9 
8 
Sept. 3,1845 
Sept. —, 1840 
Sept. 16,1842 
April 28,1845 
May 10,1844 
June 18,1857 
S. F. Baird ........ 
136 
7*22 
8.00 
12.75 
2157 
1496 
8348 
8 
8.00 
12.75 
4.00 
. , 
8.42 
13.08 
4.17 
8 
8 
Dr. Cooper..... 
8.00 
12.25 
4.25 
8318 
May 29,1857 
May 12,1857 
Sept. 8,1856 
May 10,1856 
May 12,1856 
May 16,1856 
......dO.a ..... 
35 
......do.. 
7.37 
12.00 
4.00 
Iris brown ; bill black 
and white; feet gray. 
7013 
4849 
4848 
4851 
4852 
8061 
O 
A 
$ 
Dr. F V. Hayden 
7.37 
12.12 
3.12 
$ 
7.87 
12.50 
3.87 
o 
8.12 
12.50 
3.50 
V 
9 
Bijou Hill,, Neb.. 
8.25 
12.62 
4.13 
J. Gould.. 
GUIRACA MELANOCEPHALA, Sw. 
Black-headed Grosbeak. 
Guiraca melanocephala, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 438.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. 1850, 502. 
Coccothraustes melanocephala, Rich. List, Pr. Brit. Ass. for 1836, 1837. 
Fringilla melanocephala, Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 519 ; pi. 373. 
Coccoborus melanoceplialus , Aud. Synopsis, 1839, 133.— 1b. Birds Amer. Ill, 1841, 214 ; pi. 206. 
Goniaphca melanocephala, Sclater ? 
Hedymeles melanocephala, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 153. 
Fringilla xanthomaschalis, Wagler, Isis, 1831, 525. 
Pitylus guttatus, Lesson, Rev. Zool. II, 1839, 102. 
? Guiraca tricolor. Lesson, Rev. Zool» II, 1839, 102. 
Sp.Ch. —Head above and on the sides, with chin, back, wings, and tail, black. A broad median stripe on the crown, a stripe 
behind the eye, a well marked collar on the hind neck all round, edges of interscapular feathers, rump, and under parts generally ^ 
pale brownish orange, almost light cinnamon. Middle of belly, axillaries, and under wing coverts, yellow. Belly just anterior 
to the anus, under tail coverts, a large blotch at the end of the inner webs of first and second tail feathers, a band across the 
middle and greater wing coverts, some spots on the ends of the tertiaries, the basal portions of all the quills, and the outer 
three primaries near the tips, white. 
Female similar, with less black ; wings and tail more olivaceous, the latter unspotted ; the black of the head anteriorly 
replaced by whitish. The under wing coverts bright yellow. Length of male, nearly 8 inches ; wing, 4.25 ; tail, 3.50. 
Hab. —High Central Plains from Yellowstone to the Pacific. Table lands of Mexico. 
i 
This species has the bill similar to that of G. ludoviciana, a little more swollen, perhaps, and 
of a blackish color. The second quill is longest, then the third, fourth, and first. The tail is 
slightly emarginate and rounded. 
