Adult female (No. 3,443, E. C.). Resembling the male, but, being in less abraded plumage, the colors more pronounced. The head is deep buff (just as in Ammodromus caudacutus), the auriculars and lores distinctly grayish-white, and the medial stripe of the crown ashy-white, except the anterior third, which is buff. On the lower parts, the whole lower side of the head, the entire breast, sides, flanks, and tibiæ, are deep buff, the sides sharply streaked with black. The abdomen, anal region, and crissum are pure white, in marked contrast. Length, 5.00; extent, 7.00; wing, 2.00; tail, 2.10; culmen, .45; tarsus, .70.
Young (Nos. 3,444, 3,445, and 3,446, E. C.). Ground-color above dull buff, below white; the pattern of the old birds seen in the markings, which, however, are pure black, all red and brown tints being absent,—except on the wings and tail, which are nearly as in the adult.
Ammodromus maritimus (I, 560). Mr. Maynard has discovered a very remarkable new local form of this species in Florida, which he has named var. nigrescens, possessing the following characters:—
Ammodromus maritimus, var. nigrescens, Ridgway.
Char. Above black, nearly uniform, and with a faint brownish cast; dorsal feathers with their outer edges narrowly grayish-white; remiges and tail-feathers edged with olive-brown; edge of the wing bright gamboge-yellow; supra-loral stripe deep yellow to above the middle of the eye; an obscure supra-auricular stripe of olive-grayish. Lores, auriculars, and cheeks nearly uniform black; lower parts pure white, covered with broad streaks of black, the anal region and middle line of the throat only unstreaked. Wing, 2.40; tail, 2.50; culmen, .55; tarsus, .95; middle toe, .55. (1855, Coll. R. R.)
Specimens of var. maritimus from Fort Macon, North Carolina, are much darker than Connecticut examples.
Zonotrichia leucophrys, var. gambeli (I, 569). Specimens from the Pacific Coast, which are true gambeli, are uniformly different from Middle Province examples in several important particulars; the colors are all darker, the ash more sombre, and the dorsal streaks sooty-black instead of chestnut-brown. In everything except the coloration of the head they closely resemble Z. coronata. The Middle Province form may be named Zonotrichia leucophrys, var. intermedia, Ridgway.
Junco (I, 578). For a new synopsis of the genus, see Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 613.
Junco hyemalis, var. aikeni (I, 584). First described in Am. Nat. VII, October, 1873, p. 615.