SP. CHAR. _Male._ Head above and on the sides, with chin, back, wings, and tail, black. A well-marked collar on the hind neck all round (and in var. _capitalis_ a more or less distinct median stripe on crown, and one behind the eye), edges of interscapular feathers, rump, and under parts generally pale brownish-orange, almost light cinnamon. Middle of belly, axillaries, and under wing-coverts, yellow. Belly just anterior to the anus, under tail-coverts, a large blotch at the end of the inner webs of first and second tail-feathers, a band across the middle and greater wing-coverts, some spots on the ends of the tertiaries, the basal portions of all the quills, and the outer three primaries near the tips, white. Length nearly 8 inches; wing, 4.25; tail, 3.50. _Female_ has the chin, sides of throat, and superciliary stripe white; the black markings replaced by olivaceous-brown; the cinnamon markings paler, and almost white; the white of wings more restricted; that of tail wanting. Usually there are few or no streaks beneath as in _ludovicianus_ (faint ones on flanks); in young males, however, they are more appreciable. The lemon or gamboge yellow axillars and under coverts in all ages and stages separate this species from _H. ludovicianus_, the female and young of which have those regions of a saffron or fulvous yellow. HAB. High Central Plains from Yellowstone to the Pacific. Table-lands of Mexico. Xalapa (SCL. 1859, 365); Orizaba (SCL. 1857, 213); Vera Cruz, Alpine and plateau, breeding (SUM. M. B. S. I, 551). This bird, in its range of habitat, appears to be represented by two varieties, which, however, run into each other, so that it is often difficult to determine to which variety specimens from intermediate regions should be referred.