The colours of the male in its winter plumage, are as follows. Beak blue at the base, blackish at the point. Iris chestnut-brown. Feet and claws greyish-black. The general colour of the upper parts is a dusky-brown, the feathers paler on the edges. On the forehead is a recurved crescentic band of brownish-black, forming the erectile tufts; another curved downwards, proceeds on each side from the base of the upper mandibles; while a band of yellowish white runs over the eyes and forehead. Throat pale yellow, with a broad patch of a dusky tint on the lower neck anteriorly; the rest of the under parts brownish-white. The quills dusky, the tail-feathers blackish, excepting the two middle ones, which are of the same reddish-brown as the upper tail-coverts.
In summer, the male changes its aspect considerably; the brownish-black bands on the head and neck becoming deep black, the throat and frontal band white, and the upper parts light brownish-red.
Fig. 3 represents the Male in winter; Fig. 1 in summer.
Length 7½ inches, extent of wings 14; bill 3⁄12; tarsus 1 inch.
Adult Female. Plate CC. Fig. 2.
The female is dusky-brown above, dull white beneath, the wings and tail as in the male; but it wants the black bands on the head and neck.
Nestlings. Plate CC. Fig. 4, 5, 6.
The bill and feet flesh-coloured; iris brown; the upper parts deep brown, mottled with pale reddish-brown; the lower parts pale yellowish-grey.
KENTUCKY BARBICUE ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.
Beargrass Creek, which is one of the many beautiful streams of the highly cultivated and happy State of Kentucky, meanders through a deeply shaded growth of majestic beech woods, in which are interspersed various species of walnut, oak, elm, ash, and other trees, extending on either side of its course. The spot on which I witnessed the celebration of an anniversary of the glorious proclamation of our independence is situated on its banks, near the city of Louisville. The woods spread their dense tufts towards the shores of the fair Ohio on the west, and over the gently rising grounds to the south and east. Every open spot forming a plantation was smiling in the luxuriance of a summer harvest. The farmer seemed to stand in admiration of the spectacle: the trees of his orchards bowed their branches, as if anxious to restore to their mother earth the fruit with which they were laden; the flocks leisurely ruminated as they lay on their grassy beds; and the genial warmth of the season seemed inclined to favour their repose.