_Rostrhamus sociabilis_, VIEILL. D’ORB. Hist. Nat. Cuba, av. p.
15.—CASS. Birds N. Am. 1858, 38.—MAYNARD, Birds Florida, Prospectus,
1872.
SP. CHAR. _Adult male_ (No. 61,187, Everglades, Florida; C. J. Maynard).
Prevailing color plumbeous, becoming black on the secondaries,
primaries, and tail, somewhat brownish-ashy on the wing-coverts, and
with a glaucous cast on the neck, the head becoming nearly black
anteriorly. Tail-coverts (the longer of the upper and all of the lower)
and base of the tail pure white, this occupying more than the basal half
of the outer feather, and changing into grayish-brown next the black;
tail with a terminal band of grayish-brown, about .75 wide. Inner webs
of primaries marbled, anterior to their emargination, with grayish and
white. Tibiæ tinged with rusty fulvous. Wing-formula, 4, 3, 5–2–6–7, 1.
Wing, 14.01; tail, 7.25; culmen, .95; tarsus, 1.90; middle toe, 1.55;
hind claw, 1.10, the toe, .90. Bill deep black; cere and naked lore
bright orange-red; feet deep orange-red.
_Young female_ (Cuba; Dr. Gundlach, Coll. G. N. Lawrence). Prevailing
color above brownish-black, with a glaucous cast on the dorsal region;
tail deep black, with a faint greenish-bronze reflection, with white
and grayish base and tip, as in the adult. Each feather of the upper
parts rather broadly tipped with ochraceous-rufous; crown, occiput, and
auriculars streaked longitudinally with the same. Prevailing color of
the head and lower parts deep ochraceous, on the head forming a broad
superciliary stripe from the forehead back to the occiput; throat and
cheeks streaked longitudinally with dusky; crissum immaculate; other
lower parts, including lining of the wing, thickly covered with large
transverse spots of brownish-black. Upper tail-coverts white, with a
blackish shaft-line; tail with the basal third white anteriorly and
brownish-ashy next the black, and with a terminal band, about 1.00
wide, of brownish-ashy, passing into white at the tip. Under surface of
primaries cream-color anterior to the emargination, towards the ends
grayish, with transverse spots of dusky. Wing-formula, 4, 3=5–2–6–7, 1.
Wing, 13.90; tail, 8.25; tarsus, 1.90; middle toe, 1.55.
An older specimen in young plumage (11,755, Florida) differs as follows:
The colors generally are lighter, the ochraceous being more prevalent
and lighter in tint; the throat is immaculate, and the markings beneath
more longitudinal. The secondaries and primaries are broadly tipped with
ochraceous. Wing, 14.00; tail, 7.20; tarsus, 1.95; middle toe, 1.50.
HAB. West Indies and Southern Florida.