Sp. Char. (Type, 60,046, Puebla, Mexico, A. Boucard.) Similar to M. melodia, but ground-color above olive-brown; inner webs of interscapulars pale ashy, but not in strong contrast. Crown and wings rusty-brown, the former with broad black streaks, and divided by a just appreciable paler line; back with broad black streaks without any rufous suffusi
1
Spizella pinetorum, Salvin, Pr. Z. S. 1863, p. 189. (“Similis S. pusillæ, ex Amer. Sept. et Mexico, sed coloribus clarioribus et rostro robustiore differt.”)
2
Winter plumage. Rusty prevailing above, but hoary whitish edges to feathers still in strong contrast; streaks beneath with a rufous suffusion externally, but still with the black in excess.
3
Winter plumage. Gray above more olivaceous, the black streaks more subdued by a rufous suffusion; streaks beneath with the rufous predominating, sometimes without any black.
4
Winter plumage. Above rusty-olive, with little or no ashy, the black streaks broad and distinct. Streaks beneath with the black and rusty in about equal amount.
5
In summer the streaks beneath are entirely intense black; in winter they have a slight rufous external suffusion.
6
Melospiza melodia, var. mexicana, Ridgway. Mexican Song Sparrow. ? ? Melospiza pectoralis, von Müller.
Sp. Char. (Type, 60,046, Puebla, Mexico, A. Boucard.) Similar to M. melodia, but ground-color above olive-brown; inner webs of interscapulars pale ashy, but not in strong contrast. Crown and wings rusty-brown, the former with broad black streaks, and divided by a just appreciable paler line; back with broad black streaks without any rufous suffusion. Superciliary stripe pure light ash, becoming white anterior to the eye; two broad, dark-brown stripes on side of head,—one from the eye back along upper edge of auriculars, the other back from the rictus, along their lower border. Lower parts pure white, the flanks and crissum distinctly ochraceous; markings beneath broad and heavy, entirely pure deep black; those on the jugulum deltoid, on the sides linear. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.85; bill, .37 and .24; tarsus, .85; middle toe without claw, .68. This may possibly be the M. pectoralis of von Müller. The description cited above, however, does not agree with the specimen under consideration. The pectoral spots are expressly stated to be brown, not even a black shaft-streak being mentioned, whereas the pure black spots of the specimen before us render it peculiar in this respect, being, in fact, its chief characteristic.
7
Zonotrichia boucardi, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1867, 1, pl. I, La Puebla, Mex. (scarcely definable as distinct from ruficeps).
8
Peucæa botterii, Sclater, Cat. Am. B. 1862, 116 (Zonotrichia b. P. Z. S. 1857, 214), Orizaba. Coturniculus mexicana, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 1867, 474 (Colima).
This form can scarcely be defined separately from æstivalis. The type of C. mexicanus, Lawr., is undistinguishable from Orizaba specimens. A specimen in the worn summer plumage (44,752♀, Mirador, July) differs in having the streaks above almost wholly black, with scarcely any rufous edge; the crown is almost uniformly blackish. The feathers are very much worn, however, and the specimen is without doubt referrible to botteri.
The Peucæa notosticta of Sclater (P. Z. S. 1868, 322) we have not seen; it appears to differ in some important respects from the forms diagnosed above, and may, possibly, be a good species. Its place in our system appears to be with section “A,” but it differs from ruficeps and boucardi in the median stripe on the crown, and the black streaks in the rufous of the lateral portion, the blacker streaks of the dorsal region, and some other less important points of coloration. The size appears to be larger than in any of the forms given in our synopsis (wing, 2.70; tail, 3.00). Hab. States of Puebla and Mexico, Mex.
9
Passerella obscura, Verrill, Pr. Bost. N. H. Soc. IX, Dec. 1862, 143 (Anticosti). (Type in Museum Comp. Zoöl., Cambridge.)
“Size somewhat smaller than that of P. iliaca. Legs and wings a little shorter in proportion. Claws less elongated. Bill somewhat shorter, thicker, and less acute. Color above rufous-brown, becoming bright rufous on the rump and exposed portion of the tail, but a shade darker than in P. iliaca; head uniform brown, with a slight tinge of ash; feathers of the back centred with a streak of darker brown. Wings nearly the same color as the back, with no white bands; outer webs of the quills rufous, inner webs dark brown; secondary coverts rufous, with dark brown centres; primary coverts uniform brown. Beneath dull white, with the throat and breast thickly covered with elongated triangular spots and streaks of dark reddish-brown; sides streaked with rufous-brown; middle of abdomen with a few small triangular spots of dark brown; under tail-coverts brownish-white, with a few small spots of bright rufous; tibiæ dark brown. The auriculars are tinged with reddish-brown. Bristles at the base of the bill are numerous, extending over the nostrils. Tail rather long, broad, and nearly even. Third quill longest; second and fourth equal, and but slightly shorter; first intermediate between the fifth and sixth, and one fourth of an inch shorter than the third.
“Length, 6.75; extent of wings, 10.75; wing, 3.35; tarsus, 1 inch.
“This species differs greatly in color from P. iliaca. It is darker in all parts; the feathers of the back are rufous-brown, centred with darker, instead of ash centred with brownish-red; the two white bands on the wing are wanting; the breast and throat are thickly streaked with elongated spots of dark reddish-brown, while in P. iliaca the spots are less numerous, shorter and broader, and bright rufous, and the central part of the throat is nearly free from spots; the under tail-coverts are brownish-white, with rufous spots, instead of nearly pure white.”
There are some features in this bird, as described by Mr. Verrill, which seem to characterize it as different from P. iliaca, although it is barely possible that it is this bird in immature dress. The streaked back at once separates it from all our species excepting iliaca. Nothing is said of its habits. One specimen was killed in Anticosti, July 1; the other, August 8. The true iliaca was found on the island, which fact renders it still more probable that this is its young.
10
Atlantic Monthly, XXIII, p. 707.
11
Cyanospiza leclancheri. Spiza leclancheri, Lafr. Mag. Zoöl. 1841, pl. xxii.—Less. R. Z. 1842, 74.
12
Tiaris pusilla, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 438. Phonipara pusilla, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 159.
13
Emberiza olivacea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 309. Phonipara olivacea, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 159.
14
Loxia canora, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 858. Phonipara canora, Bonap.
15
Cardinalis virginianus, var. coccineus, Ridgway.
16
Cardinalis virginianus, var. carneus. ? Cardinalis carneus, Less. R. Z. 1842, 209.—Bonap. Consp. I, 501.
According to the locality
