114 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY.
black, the adjoining ones are very slightly tipped with white ; the others have wider white
tips in proportion as they are more exterior, and the outer one on each side has only a part
of its inner web next the quill black. The bristles at the angle of the mouth and round
the nostrils are blackish-brown, and the lores are a little dusky ; but there is a narrow whitish
frontlet. A dull umber-brown band commences at the nostrils, and, passing backwards só as
to include the eye, terminates on the side of the neck.
Under surface.—-HhQ cheeks, throat, breast, and belly, are ash-grey, crossed by semicircular
lines of clove-brown, generally two on each feather. The vént feathers and under
tail coverts are soiled white, a few of the longer of the latter being obscurely barred on their
ends. Both mandibles are pale horn-colour at the base, gradually becoming bluish-black towards
the tips. Legs pitch-black.
F orm, & c.—Bill much compressed, with a strong and abrupt tooth near its hooked point.
There are six strong bristles at the corner of the mouth, and the oval, longitudinal nostrils
are concealed by short bristly hairs. The wings are moderately long, reaching within an inch
and three-quarters of the end of the tail. The fourth primary is the longest; the third is half
a line shorter; the fifth is a line shorter than the fourth ; the sixth is about five lines shorter
than the fifth ; the second is two lines shorter than the sixth *, or half an inch shorter than
the third; while the first is shorter even than the secondaries, and is an inch and a quarter
shorter than the second primary. The tail is cuneiform, the exterior feathers being nine
lines shorter than the middle ones. Hind toe robust and a little longer than the lateral
ones. Claws much compressed.
D im en s io n s
Of the female.
"Lines. Length of the bill, from the angle of theI nches. • Lines.
0 mouth jfei . . . . 1 1
0 „ of the tarsus . . . 1 1
6 „ o f the middle toe . . 0 8 9 „ of its daw . . . . 0 3§
Length from the tip of the bill to the end ofIn ches.
the tail . « . . . 1 1 „ of the tail . . . . 5
„ of the longest quill feather . 4
,, of the bill measured along its ridge 0
A specimen, to every appearance a male, killed at Penetanguishene, on Lake
Huron, corresponds with Wilson’s figure above quoted, except that the frontlet
is whitish in our bird, instead of black as in the figure. It differs from the female
described above in the general colour of the dorsal aspect, which is pearl-grey,
with a slight tinge of yellowish-grey, approaching very nearly to the colour of the
European L . excubitor and to the subject of the following article. The frontlet is
whitish, and the lateral mark on the head is pitch-black, and extends farther back
than in the female. The wing and tail feathers are of a deeper black, and the
white speculum and tips of the secondaries are more conspicuous than in the
* In the specimen preserved in the Hudson’s Bay Museum, the second quill feather is two lines longer than the
six th, but has the same relative length with regard to the other feathers.