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Show 101 - Forehead, crown, occiput, and nape deep rusty- brown; feathers with broad longitudinal streaks of deep black. Rest of upper parts deep umber, darkest on the back; feathers of back and rump, the upper tail-coverts, scapulars, and wing- coverts broadly bordered with rusty; scapulars with concealed white spots. Tail ashy- umber, tipped ( more broadly than in adult) with ashy- white, crossed by four broad bands of brownish- black, the last ( or subterminal) of which is broadest, the first concealed by the coverts. Secondaries and primaries similar in color to the tail, but darker; the first showing five indistinct darker bands, and tipped ( rather broadly) with pale ciunamon- rufous. Ear- coverts and cbeeks fulvous- white, thickly streaked with dark brown. Lower parts white, washed with ochraceous on jugulum and breast; each feather with a central longitudinal lanceolate stripe of clear umber, the shaft black; these streaks are very narrow on the throat, broadest on the breast and flanks. Tibiae with transversely ovate spots and transverse bars of reddish- umber; lower tail- coverts with narrow shaft- streaks of darker brown. Lining of wing with cordate and ovate spots of dark brown. Young female ( 42136, Orizaba, Mexico; M. Botteri. Type of var. mexicanus in Hist. JS". Am. B., 232):- Similar to the young male, bat feathers of back, etc., less broadly margined with rusty; ochraceous wash on lower parts more decided; stripes beneath broader and less lanceolate, on the sides broadly ovate, and on the flanks in form of broad transverse bars; tibiae more thickly spotted transversely; lower tail- coverts immaculate. Wing, 9.00; tail, 7.80; tarsus, 2.25; middle toe, 2.50. Fourth quill longest; third shorter than fifth; second intermediate between sixth and seventh; first, 2.90 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, 0.90. Remarks.- Although occasional individuals from Mexico lead at first to the impression of a decided difference from the usual style of the Eastern United States, they lose their apparently distinctive features when a large series is brought together for comparison. As a rule, adult males from Mexico and the western districts of the United States agree with each other, and differ from the average style of the same plumage in birds from the Eastern United States in having the rufous of the lower parts in greater amount in proportion to the white, that of the tibiae being often almost unbroken ; there is usually also less of concealed white on the scapulars. The most typical example of the so- called A. mexicanus, however, is one from Massachusetts, described on p. 99. The difference between eastern and western birds of this species is more marked in the young than in the adult plumage, however; and there seems to be great constancy in the differences observable. Thus, the western birds are darker- colored throughout, • the brown markings occupying larger areas, and the white portions of a less pure color, being more or less suffused or stained with pale ochraceous. The markings on the tibia& are almost always transversely-cordate spots instead of longitudinal streaks. This darker style of plumage is characteristic of the entire Western Province, east to the Missouri Plains; but along the southern border and in Mexico, birds more like the eastern style seem to prevail. Upon the whole, it is found impossible to characterize by tangible, and, at the same time, constant, characters, two geographical races of this species; for, while a barely appreciable difference characterizes the majority of the birds of either region, the cases of individuals which correspond in every particular being found in the region of which they are not typical are too numerous to warrant the considera- |
