HARPORHYNCHUS. 33 
Supra fusco-cinereus, campterio et tectricum alarum apicibus albis; subtus sordide albus, pectore fusco- 
cinereo variegato, hypochondriis eodem colore suffusis ; caude rectricibus (nisi quatuor internis) pracipue 
in pogonio interno albo terminatis; rostro nigro, pedibus obscure fuscis. Long. tota 9°7, ale 4:5, caudex 
4:5, rostri a rictu 1:4, tarsi 1:35. (Descr. exempl. ex Mexico merid. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Norra America, southern frontier of United States4+—Merxtco Tableland 
(Bullock 1), Mazatlan (Xantus °, Bischoff®), Tepic (Grayson °), Tamaulipas (Couch 4), 
Mountains of Colima (Xantus*), Temascaltepec (Deppe, Mus. Berol.), Orizaba 
(Botteri), Oaxaca (Boucard ?), Tehuacan (Sumichrast*), Cuernavaca (le Strange). 
Originally described by Swainson from a specimen obtained by Bullock in the table- 
land of Mexico !, Harporhynchus curvirostris has since been met with by nearly every 
collector who has worked in Southern Mexico; and the bird seems to be common from 
the State of Oaxaca, where M. Boucard found it °, northwards to the valley of the Rio 
Grande and Texas ® °, extending also along the western coast through the mountains of 
Colima ® to Mazatlan ®. Prof. Sumichrast never met with it except on the plateau of 
Mexico, and omits the name of the species from his list of the birds of Vera Cruz, 
stating that the localities cited in that State, where the species is said to have been found, 
may be erroneous °. 
We have no record of the habits of the species in Mexico; but in Texas, where it 
came under the observation of both Dr. Merrill® and Mr. Sennett §, it is described as a 
bird of very retiring disposition and of no great powers as a songster. 
In Mexico Prof. Baird speaks of the western specimens having heavier and thicker 
bills and stouter legs than eastern birds, but does not attach much importance to the 
fact. In Arizona a race occurs which has received the distinct title of H. palmeri, but 
which is apparently only imperfectly separated from the typical form. 
Of the names proposed for this species subsequently to Swainson’s, Turdus deflexus 
of Lichtenstein '° seems, by the light of specimens in the Berlin Museum, to be certainly 
applicable to H. curvirostris. 
Pomatorhinus turdinus, given to it by Temminck ", was applied to a bird said to have 
come from New Holland! No such species has ever been recognized in Australia; and 
the plate is a fair representation of A. curvirostris. 
Wagler’s name Toxvostoma vetula'? has always been a recognized synonym of this 
species, and was suspected to apply to the same bird as Swainson’s title by Wagler 
himself. This latter writer considers it to be the Chietottotl of Hernandez. 
4. Harporhynchus graysoni. 
Harporhynchus graysoni, Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. x. p. 1'; Grayson, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. xiv. 
p- 298°; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 267°. 
“ Male. Above of a rather dirty reddish-brown, the front paler, a blackish spot in front of and under the 
eye; chin, upper part of throat and sides of the head pale ochreous, the latter marked with faint dusky 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Zool., Aves, Vol. 1, Nov. 1879. 5 
