Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/175

Rh Bill and claws black. Ii-is bright yellow. The general colour of the plumage is white, the face, forehead, nape, fore neck, anterior part of the breast, abdomen, and rump, with the upper and lower tail-coverts, unspotted; the upper part of the head and the back marked with lunated umber brown spots, and the breast, sides, and thigh-coverts, with transverse curved lines of the same. Wing-coverts, wings, and tail, barred with transverse oblong dark-brown spots.

Length 21 inches, extent of wings 53 ; bill along the ridge 1^%, along the edge 2 ; tarsus 1-^^, middle toe with the claw 2^.

Adult Female. Plate CXXI. Fig. 2.

The female is similar in external appearance, but much larger.

Length 26 inches, extent of wings 65.

Individuals of either sex vary according to age, the spots gradually disappearing the older the birds become, so that not unfrequently specimens of a uniform white may be found.