| OCR Text |
Show 135 But one species is as yet known, and of this ouly two specimens, both of unknown history, exist in museums. The two specimens in question form part of the collection of the United States National Museum, and are supposed to have come from California. ONYCHOTES GRUBERI. Onychote* gruberi, RIDGWAV, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. Dec. 1870,149 ( description of fuliginous phase); B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. Birds, iii, 1874, 254 ( figure of fuliginous phase); Rod and Gun, vol. 6, No. 5, May 1, 1675, 65 ( first description of white- breasted phase). Onyckoteagrueberi, SHARPE, Cat. Ace. Brit. Mas. 1874,158 ( foot- note). Baft.- California? ( F. Gruber). Wing, 10.10- 11.50; tail, 6.50- 7.30; culmen, about 0.80; tarsus, 2.70 2.80; middle toe, 1.45- 1.60; posterior claw, 1.00; its digit, 0.80. Adult- Tail brownish- gray, the feathers with a hoary cast near the shaft, not paler at the tip, and crossed by a rather indefinite number ( apparently from 9 to 11) of narrow and rather indistinct bars of dusky brown, these becoming gradually obsolete basally; the inner webs but little paler, becoming white only toward edges. Light phase ( No. 62168, Xat. Mus.):- Above, chiefly dusky grayish- brown, beneath ochraceous white, deeper ochraceous on the middle of the breast and abdomen. Pileum and nape striped with blackish- brown and ochraceous- white, the former prevailing, the latter on the edges of the feathers; cheeks and sides of the neck with finer and fainter streaks; sides of the breast with narrow irregularly- lanceolate streaks of grayish- brown; sides with broader, ragged stripes, or longitudinal cloudings of the same, and tibial ! plames with dusky shaft- streaks and faint grayish mottlings; longer lower tail- coverts with an irregular large spot of brownish- gray near the end. Lining of the wing deep creamy- buff, whiter along the outer edge, with a few scattered small spots of grayish- brown; under primary coverts pale grayish for the terminal portion, where marked with two or three narrow bars of darker. Inner webs of primaries entirely white to the emarginations, beyond which they are plain grayish, darker toward edges; no transverse bars are observable except on the inner quills. Axillars mostly white, irregularly spotted, and brokenly barred with brown, mixed with rusty, the brown predominating toward the end of the feathers. Upper parts slightly variegated, chiefly by whitish and dusky bars on the basal portion of the feathers; lesser wing-coverts faintly spotted with rusty; outer webs of secondaries and inner primaries with very indistinct darker bars. Wing, 11.50; tail, ". 30; tarsus, 2.80; middle toe, 1.60. Fuliginous phase ( No. 41703, Nat. Mus.; adult f):- Everywhere dark grayish- brown, the feathers with darker shafts; feathers of the neck all round broadly edged with dull rasty; lining of the wing and tibial plumes dull cinnamon- rusty; flanks and crissum tinged with the same. Remiges as in the normal phase, but without trace of darker bars on outer webs, while those on the inner webs are more distinctly indicated. Tail as in the light phase. Wing, 10.10; tail, 6.50; culmen, about 0.80; tarsus, 2.70; middle toe, 1.45; posterior claw, 1.00; its digit, 0.80. |
