inch shorter than the middle.
All the Mexican specimens before us have the bill stouter than those from the Rio Grande of Texas, the stripes on the head apparently better defined. The back is darker olive; the flanks brighter olive-green, not olive-gray, the wings are apparently shorter. The series is not sufficiently perfect to show other differences, if any exist.
Embernagra rufivirgata.
Habits. In regard to the habits and distribution of this species we are entirely without any information, other than that it has been met with in the valley of the Rio Grande, and at various places in Mexico. Specimens were obtained at New Leon, Mexico, by Lieutenant Couch, and at Ringgold Barracks, in Texas, by Mr. J. H. Clark. The season when these birds were met with is not indicated by him.
It is stated by Mr. Sumichrast that this species is found throughout both the temperate and the hot districts of the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico. He also mentions that he has found this bird in localities quite remote from each other, and belonging both to the hot and to the temperate regions. In the latter it is found to the height of at least four thousand feet.
This species was met with by Mr. Boucard, during the winter months, at Plaza Vicente, in the hot lowlands of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Subfamily PASSERELLINÆ
Char. Toes and claws very stout; the lateral claws reaching beyond the middle of the middle one; all very slightly curved.
Passerella iliaca.
846
Bill conical, the outlines straight; both mandibles equal; wings long, longer than the even tail or slightly rounded, reaching nearly to the middle of its exposed portion. Hind claw longer than its digit; the toe nearly as long as the middle toe; tarsus longer than the middle toe. Brown above, either uniformly so or faintly streaked; triangular spots below.
This section embraces a single North American genus, chiefly characterized by the remarkable elongation of the lateral claws, as well as by the peculiar shape and large size of all the claws; the lateral, especially, are so much lengthened as to extend nearly as far as the middle. The only approach to this, as far as I recollect, among United States Conirostres, is in Pipilo megalonyx, and Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.
Passerella, Swainson, Class. Birds, II, 1837, 288. (Type, Fringilla iliaca, Merrem.)
Gen. Char. Body stout. Bill conical, not notched, the outlines straight; the two jaws of equal depth; roof of upper mandible deeply excavated, and vaulted; not knobbed. Tarsus scarcely longer than the middle toe; outer toe little longer than the inner, its claw reaching to the middle of the central one. Hind toe about equal to the inner lateral; the claws all long, and moderately curved only; the posterior rather longer than the middle, and equal to its toe. Wings long, pointed, reaching to the middle of the tail; the tertials scarcely longer than secondaries; second and third quills longest; first equal to the fifth. Tail very nearly even, scarcely longer than the wing. Inner claw contained scarcely one and a half times in its toe proper.
Color. Rufous or slaty; obsoletely streaked or uniform above; thickly spotted with triangular blotches beneath.
Common Characters. Ground-color above, slaty-ash, or sepia; wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail more rufescent. Beneath, pure white, with numerous triangular spots over breast and throat, streaks along sides, and a triangular blotch on side of throat, of the same color as the wings. The pectoral spots aggregated on the middle of the breast.
A. Hind claw not longer than its digit. Back with broad streaks of dark rufous.
1. P. iliaca. Ground-color above ash (more or less overlaid in winter with a rufous wash); wings, dorsal spots, upper tail-coverts, tail, auriculars, and markings of lower parts, bright reddish-rufous. Wing, 3.50; tail, 2.90; tarsus, .87; middle toe, without claw, .67; hind claw, .35. Hab. Eastern Province of North America.
B. Hind claw much longer than its digit. Back without streaks.
2. P. townsendi.
Head and neck above with back, scapulars, and rump, rich sepia-brown, almost uniform with wings and tail. Belly thickly spotted; tibiæ deep brown; supraloral space not whitish. Wing, 3.05; tail, 2.85; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .62; hind claw, .43. Hab. Pacific Province of North America, from Kodiak south to Fort Tejon, Cal. (in winter) … var. townsendi.
Head and neck above, with back, scapulars, and rump, slaty-ash, in strong contrast with the rufescent-brown of wings and tail. Belly with only minute specks, or immaculate; tibiæ grayish; supraloral space distinctly white. Spots beneath clove-brown.
Bill, .34 from nostril, by .25 deep at base; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; tarsus, .85; middle toe, .60; hind claw, .45. Hab. Middle Province of United States … var. schistacea.
Bill, .35 from nostril and .47 deep; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; tarsus, .83; middle toe, .63; hind claw, .50. Hab. Sierra Nevada, from Fort Tejon, north to Carson City, Nev … var. megarhynchus.
No great violence would be done by considering all the above forms as races of one species, the characters separating iliaca from the rest being of no great importance. However, in the large series examined, there is no specimen of iliaca at all aberrant, and none approach in the slightest degree to any of the other forms. There can be no doubt whatever of the specific identity of the three forms presented under section “B,” as is plainly shown by specimens of intermediate characters. These western forms are parallels of the western race of Melospiza; schistacea representing M. fallax, megarhynchus the M. heermanni, and townsendi the M. guttata or rufina.
Fringilla iliaca, Merrem. “Beitr. zur besond. Gesch. der Vögel, II, 1786-87, 40, pl. x.”—Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 923.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 58; V, 512, pl. cviii.—Ib. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 139, pl. clxxxvi. Passerella iliaca, Sw. Birds, II, 1837, 288.—Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 477.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 488.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285.—Samuels, 325. Fringilla rufa, Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 53, pl. xxiv, f. 4.—Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 248. Fringilla ferruginea, Wilson, Catalogue, VI, 1812.—Hall’s ed. Wilson, II, 255. “Emberiza pratensis, Vieill.,” Gray.
Passerella townsendi.
Sp. Char. General aspect of upper parts foxy-red, the ground-color and the sides of neck being ashy; the interscapular feathers each with a large blotch of fox-red; this color glossing the top of head and nape; sometimes faintly, sometimes more distinctly; the rump unmarked; the upper coverts and surface of the tail continuous fox-red. Two narrow white bands on the wing. Beneath, with under tail-coverts and axillars, clear white, the sides of head and of throat, the jugulum, breast, and sides of body, conspicuously and sharply blotched with fox-red; more triangular across breast, more linear and darker on sides. Sometimes the entire head above is continuously reddish. First quill rather less than fifth. Hind toe about equal to its claw. Length, 7.50; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.90; tarsus, .87; middle toe, without claw, .67; hind
