The snout was narrower than in the preceding specimens, but in colour similar.
Another specimen was destitute of the cinnamon colour, excepting on the snout, where it was but slightly apparent; the general colour was, therefore, gray with an intermixture of black, in remote spots and lines, varying in position and figure with the direction of the hair.
2. Canis nubilus.—Dusky, the hair cinereous at base, then brownish-black, then gray, then black; the proportion of black upon the hair is so considerable as to give to the whole animal a much darker colour than the darkest of the latrans; but the gray of the hairs combining with the black tips, in the general effect, produce a mottled appearance; the gray colour, predominates on the lower part of the sides; ears short, deep brownish-black, with a patch of gray hair on the anterior side within; muzzle blackish above; superior lips, anterior to the canine teeth, gray; inferior jaw at tip, and extending in a narrowed line backwards, nearly to the origin of the neck, gray; beneath dusky ferruginous, greyish, with long hair between the hind thighs, and with a large white spot on the breast; the ferruginous colour is very much narrowed on the neck, but is dilated on the lower part of the cheeks; legs brownish-black, with but a slight admixture of gray hairs, excepting on the anterior edge of the hind thighs, and the lower edgings of the toes, where the gray predominates; the tail is short, fusiform, a little tinged with ferruginous black above, near the base and at tip, the tip of the trunk hardly attaining to the os calcis; the longer hairs of the back, particularly over the shoulders, resemble a short sparse mane.
| ft. | in. | |
|---|---|---|
| Length from the tip of the nose to the origin of the tail | 4 | 3¾ |
| Length of the trunk of the tail | 1 | 1 |
| Ear, from anterior angle to the tip | 0 | 3¾ |
| From the anterior angle of the ear, to the posterior canthus of the eye, | 0 | 4¾ |
| From anterior canthus of the eye, to the middle of the tip of the nose, | 0 | 5½ |
| Between the anterior angles of the ears, rather more than | 0 | 3 |
The aspect of this animal is far more fierce and formidable than either the common red wolf, or the prairie wolf, and is of a more robust form. The length of the ears and tail distinguish it at once from the former, and its greatly superior size, besides the minor characters of colour, &c., separate it from the prairie wolf. As the black wolf (C. lycaon,) is described to be of a deep and uniform black colour, and his physiognomy is represented to be nearly the same as that of the common wolf, it is beyond a doubt different from this species. It has the mane of the mexicanus. It diffuses a strong and disagreeable odour, which scented the clothing of Messrs. Peale and Dougherty, who transported the animal several miles from where they killed it to the cantonment.
1. Sylvia celatus.—Above dull greenish-olive; rump and tail coverts purer greenish-olive; primaries and tail feathers blackish-brown, olive-green on the exterior margins, and white on the interior margin; head very slightly and inconspicuously crested; crest with the feathers orange at base; bill horn colour, slender, base of the inferior mandible whitish beneath; beneath olivaceous yellow; inferior tail coverts pure yellow; legs dusky.
Length 5¼ inches.
Shot at Engineer Cantonment early in May. This bird is distinguished by the colour of the feathers on the crown of the head, which are of a fulvous colour, tipped with the same colour as that of the neck and back, so that the fulvous colour does not appear at first sight. The wings are destitute of any white band, and the margins of the six exterior primaries are much paler than those of the others. We cannot find any description of this bird; it seems, however, to approach nearest to the S. leucogastra, Steph., Nashville warbler of Wilson; but in our specimen the belly is not white, neither does Wilson's description of the colour of the head of his Nashville warbler agree at all with that of our bird.
2. Sylvia bifasciata.—Above bluish; all beneath white; head highly varied with darker; between the eyes and bill blackish; bill black; interscapulars lineate with blackish; wings blackish; shoulders bluish; wing coverts with two white bands; primaries margined with white on the inner side, and with plumbeous on the exterior side; tail black; feathers blackish, white on the inner margin, and plumbeous on the exterior margin; and, excepting the two middle ones, with a white spot on the inner side, near the tip; flanks spotted with plumbeous; feet black.
Length rather more than 4¾ inches.