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Chapman, The Standing of Ardetta neoxena.
Auk
Jan.
Jan.
| Outer secondaries slate gray without cinnamon rufous tips; inner secondaries black, glossy on the outer web and without chestnut rufous. | Outer secondaries slate gray tipped with cinnamon rufous; inner secondaries with outer web chestnut rufous, inner web blackish slate gray. |
| Lesser wing-coverts at bend of wing black. | Lesser wing-coverts at bend of wing chestnut rufous. |
| Median wing-coverts chestnut. | Median wing-coverts cream buff. |
| Greater wing-coverts blackish slate gray, the inner ones with chestnut tips. | Greater wing-coverts with basal half slate gray, terminal half chestnut rufous, the inner ones washed with cream-buff on the outer vane. |
| Under wing-coverts chestnut. | Under wing-coverts white, grayer at the base, and washed with buffy. |
It will be seen from this comparison that there is no regularity in the substitution of colors; hence these birds differ not alone in color, but also in pattern of coloration. Thus, the chestnut of neoxena may replace either the white or buff of exilis, or the former may be black where the latter is chestnut rufous, buff, or white. The differences in distribution of color, or relative markings of the same parts, are most marked in the interscapulars, under tail-coverts, greater wing-coverts, and tips of the quills.
| Ardetta neoxena, ♀ ad. | Ardetta elixis, ♀ ad. |
| Similar to male but crown slightly, and back decidedly duller. | Similar to male but black of head tinged with brown; back rich, dark brown; interscapulars more widely margined with buffy; under parts more heavily washed with buff, and with numerous blackish shaft-streaks, and in places slight blackish mottlings. |
Measurements.
| Six adults (5 males and 1 female, 4 from Florida and 2 from Toronto) average: wing, 4.59; tail, 1.56; tarsus, 1.56; culmen, 1.76 | Six adults (4 males and 2 females, 3 from Florida and 3 from Erie, Pa.) average: wing, 4.60; tail, 1.59; tarsus, 1.59; culmen, 1.81. |
My notes on the female of neoxena are based on the original records and Mr. Hubert Brown's comparison of the two adult Toronto females, neither of which I have seen. One of these
