is marked male. The general appearance is otherwise much the same, the unspotted bird rather smaller, and without the dusky interscapular markings described in macronyx. Should No. 50,225 represent a distinct species, it may be called P. chlorosoma, and distinguished as above. (60,050, Mexico, Boucard.)
20
Pipilo lateralis (Natt.). Emberiza lateralis, Natt. Mus. Vind. MSS. Poospiza lat. Burm. Th. Bras. III, Av. 2, p. 215. Pipilo superciliosa, Swains. An. Menag. 311, 95, fig. 59.
21
Pipilo maculatus, Swainson, Philos. Mag., 1827.
22
Pipilo carmani, Baird, MSS.; Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. X, 7. (Specimens in collection made by Colonel A. J. Grayson.)
23
Pipilo maculatus, Swainson. Sp. Char. Male. Similar to the female of Pipilo arcticus, but rather more olivaceous; only the head and neck all round black; shading above insensibly into the back. The white markings mostly edged narrowly externally with black, and clouded with rusty; the nape-feathers faintly, the interscapular broadly, streaked centrally with blackish; lower back and rump, with outer edges of quill and tail feathers, olivaceous-brown. A narrow shaft-streak in white at end of tail. Fourth quill longest; fifth scarcely shorter; first about equal to secondaries. Claws moderate; perhaps larger than in erythrophthalmus. Length of skin, 7.80; wing, 3.15; tail, 4.20; tarsus, 1.10; middle toe and claw, .96; claw alone, .34; hind toe and claw, .81; claw alone, .45. Hab. Mexico (Oaxaca; Real del Monte, Philos. Mag., 1827).
It is a serious question whether this comparatively little known Mexican species of Pipilo is not to be considered as identical with some or all of the species of the United States, with spotted wing-coverts, notwithstanding the difference in the color of the body. It appears, however, to be constant in the olivaceous character of the back,—no reference being made to Mexican specimens entirely black above,—and as such it may be considered a permanent geographical race.
24
Pipilo fuscus, Sw. Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 434 (Temiscaltepec).—Ib. Anim. in Menag. 1838, 347.—Bp. Consp. 1851, 487.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, 304 (Cordova). ? Kieneria fusca, Bp. C. R. XL, 1855, 356.
Sp. Char. Above dull olive-brown; the top of head having the central portion of feathers tinged (inconspicuously and obscurely) with rufous. Chin and throat pale rufous, bordered by dusky streaks; a single dusky spot in lower part of jugulum. Belly and flanks behind, anal region and crissum, rather darker rufous. Sides grayish-olive, lighter than the back, tingeing the breast, and leaving only a small patch in the centre of under parts white, shading into the surrounding ashy-brown. Fourth and fifth quills longest; first shorter than ninth, or than secondaries.
Dimensions (prepared specimen): Total length, 7.75; wing, 3.80; tail, 4.20; exposed portion of first primary, 2.30; of longest (measured from exposed base of first primary), 3.03. Bill: Length from forehead, .65; from nostril, .40. Legs: Tarsus, .95; middle toe and claw, 1.00; hind toe and claw, .68; claw alone, .36. Hab. Highlands of Mexico.
The specimen described is from the city of Mexico, and belongs to Mr. G. N. Lawrence; others before us are from Temiscaltepec (the original locality of Swainson’s type), Guadalaxara, and Tepic.
While admitting the strong probability that the different brown Pipilos with rufous throat bordered by black spots, P. fuscus, crissalis, mesoleucus, albigula, and probably even albicollis, are geographical modifications of the same original type, the large collection before us vindicates the action of those who have referred the California species to that described by Swainson as fuscus, and who have distinguished the P. mesoleucus from both. The original description of fuscus agrees almost exactly with crissalis, both actually scarcely separable; while the mesoleucus, intermediate in geographical position, is decidedly different from either. The relationships of these different forms will be found expressed in the general diagnosis already given.
Two descriptions given by Swainson, copied below, of the P. fuscus, differ somewhat from each other, and may not have been taken from the same specimen. The identification of either with P. mesoleucus would be a difficult matter; while the first one expresses the peculiar characters of crissalis more nearly than any other. The statement of “white beneath,” without any qualification, applies better to mesoleucus than to others, but the “pale rufous tinge” observable in crissalis and fuscus is very different from the abruptly defined chestnut cap of mesoleucus.
Pipilo fuscus, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 434. “Gray, beneath paler; throat obscure fulvous, with brown spots; vent ferruginous. Length, 8.00; bill, .70; wings, 3.50; tail, 4.00; tarsi, .90; hind toe and claw, .70.” Hab. Table land; Temiscaltepec.
Pipilo fuscus, Swainson, Anim. in Men. 1838, 347. “Grayish-brown above; beneath white; chin and throat fulvous, with dusky spots; under tail-coverts fulvous; tail blackish-brown, unspotted. Bill and legs pale, the latter smaller, and the claws more curved than in any other known species; crown with a pale rufous tinge. Length, 7.50; wings, 3.50; tail, 4.00; tarsus, .90; middle toe and claw the same; hinder toe, .65. Rather smaller than maculata.”
25
Pipilo albicollis, Sclater. Above uniform olivaceous-brown; the cap not differently colored. Lores, chin, and throat white, the two last bordered and defined by dusky spots; jugulum and breast white, the former clouded with olivaceous, and with a dusky blotch in middle; middle of throat crossed by an olivaceous band which curves round on each side under the ear-coverts; sides grayish. Flanks behind, anal region, and crissum, rufous. Middle wing-coverts with a whitish bar across their tips. Fourth and fifth quills longest; first shorter than ninth and secondaries. Length, 7.00; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.70. Bill and legs light. Hab. Central Mexico.
This “species” may fairly be considered as one extreme of the series of which P. crissalis is the other; and differs from the rest merely in a greater amount of white, and the absence of rufous tinge on top of head. The fulvous of throat is concentrated in a band across its middle portion, leaving chin and lower throat white; this, however, is foreshadowed in the paler chin of mesoleucus, and the whitish lower throat of albigula. The uniformity of coloring above is nearly equalled by that of P. crissalis. The whitish band across the middle wing-coverts is the most positive character.
26
The name in manuscript on the label of a specimen in the Schlüter collection, from Astrachan.
27
Otocorys peregrina, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 110, pl. cii. Eremophila per. Scl. Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 127.
28
A specimen from Cleveland, Ohio (7,429 ♀, April 1, Dr. Kirtland), and one from Washington, D. C. (28,246 ♂, Feb.), have nearly as distinct streaks above, but the white of lower parts is without any tinge of yellow.
