less bright bfitl Both se4*#s, • lihe other (feotese,
papillous re'd mombtane dver the «ye, hot always scên- in stuffed
skims, and which 'Is said to' be very vivid is the male of this
species in the breeding season.' This menlhrane, an
length, became® xMSteiidjèdy and "projects above the eye- in thè
shape of a small' cre$t; three-eighths of an inch high. The male
at this season, like that of other species, and "indeed Óf most
gallinaceous birds, struts about in a very stately manner, carrying
himself® Siryluprfght. The middle feathers of the tail- are mbré
ö t less elongated^ in young 'birds scarcely exceeding the adjoining
by half an toch. '
The spring plumage is much more bright and glossy than -thllt
autumnal, and also exhibits differences in the spots and markings i
The specimen we have selected for our plate, on ac'count of its
being the only one we had from the United States territory, is- a
female in the autumnal dress, and was!%rôugj!t from the Rocky
Mountains. We think proper to insert here in detail the description
we töoifc from it atAhe’time, thus enabling th% lo ad e r fb contrast
it with that made from a Northern specimen in spring plumagè,
rather than point out each and all the numerous, and at the saine
time minute and unimportant variations.
The female represented htt. the figure Was fifteen incités long.
Its general eolour mottled with black and yellowish rufous: the
feathers of the head above are yellowish rufous banded with
black> the shaft yellowish : a line .above the eye, tbe cheeks, and
the throat, are pure yellowish rusty with Very few blackish dots,
and a band -of the latter colour from the bill beneath the eye and
spreading behind. All the lower parts are wM^s&ereatn, with a
yellowish rusty-tinge ; each feather of the neck and breast with a
broad blackish subterminal . margin in the shape of a crescent,
becoming more and more narrow and acute as they are lower
down on the belly, until the lowest are reduced to a mere black
SHARP-TAILED GROW!, 45
mark in the noddle; the lower tail-eoverts and the femorals are
entirely destitute of-black. All .,the 'upper parts-, viz. the back,
l*ump, upper t^iLcoyerts, and scapulars, havet.q uniform mottled
appearance of black' mid rusty, . each feather 'being black with
rusty shafts, spots, bands, or-margins, thO^yuslsy again-minutely
dotted With black: on the rump, Bmm especially on the tail-coverts,
the rusty predominates in such a manner th at each feather
becomes first banded with/mack and rusty, then decidedly rusty
varied with* blapk, which however doef; not change in the least
the general effect. The wing-coyerts are dusky, each with a
large round white spot at tip, the inner gradually taking the
markings of the back and scapulars; the lining of the shoulder
is plain dusky, as well as tfie spurious wing and the primaries,
each feather of the spurious wing having about fiye large round
spots of Whyte on its outer web; the primaries are regularly
marked on the same side with eight or ten -squarish equidistant
white spots, with 'a few inconspicuous whitish dots on their inner
web besides; the secondaries are also dusky, but in them the
spots take the appearance of bands continued ’ across the whole
feather, of whi,ch bands there are three or four, including the
terminal; the inner secondaries become darker and darker as
they approach the body, the white becomes rufous, the dots are
more frequent, and they become confounded with the scapulars,
and are banded and mottled with various tints of black and rusty:
the lower wing-coverts and long axillary feathers are pure
white, the outer coverts being marbljedi with dusky. The tail is
composed of eighteen feathers; it is cuneiform, very short, and
entirely hidden by the coverts, except the four middle feathersj
the two middle feathers are flaccid, narrow, equal in breadth
throughout, longer than the others by more than an inch, rusty,
crossed by chained hands of black, and dotted Wpfc black and
whitish at tip; the two next are also longer than the others,