158 MNIOTILTID. 
Icteria longicauda, Lawy. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. vi. p.4”; Baird, U.S. Bound. Surv. ii. Birds, p. 10™ 
Rev. Am. B. i. p. 230. 
Icteria longicaudata, Finsch, Abh. nat. Ver. z. Bremen, 1870, p. 331”. 
Icteria virens, var. longicauda, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 271”. 
Supra griseo-olivacea, alis et cauda extus concoloribus; stria utrinque rictali et altera superciliari a naribus 
ducta albis, macula suboculari quoque alba; subtus gutture toto, pectore et subalaribus flavis, abdomine 
reliquo albo, hypochondriis fusco lavatis, rostro nigro (vestitu hiemali ad mandibule basin albicante), 
pedibus plumbeis. Long. tota 7-0, ale 3:3, caude 3-8, rostri a rictu 0°75, tarsi 1-1. (Descr. exempl. ex 
Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Untrep Status, Eastern, Middle, and Western Provinces, Lower California 7 8,— 
Mexico (Deppe, Sallé), Mazatlan >? and Tepic (Grayson 26), Nuevo Leon 
(Couch *8), Guanajuato (Dugés |), valley of Mexico (White 12, le Strange), State of 
Vera Cruz (Sumichrast*), Jalapa (de Oca }8), Playa Vicente (Boucard 19), Chihuitan, 
Santa Efigenia (Swmichrast +), Merida, Yucatan (Schott *); Guavemana 16 20, Retal- 
huleu, Volcan de Fuego, Savana Grande, Polochic valley, Coban and Choctum 
(0. 8S. & FD. G.); Honpuras, San Pedro (G. WM. Whitely!8); Costa Ricaé 
(Hoffmann 11). 
Through their adhesion to the names of the tenth edition of Linneus’s ‘Systema 
Nature’ by American authors, this bird now usually with them passes as Icteria virens. 
In Europe it is better known as Icteria viridis, Gmelin’s later but to us more lawful 
appellation. Of other names bestowed upon it, Tanagra auricollis® seems certainly 
synonymous, as proved by Deppe’s specimens in the Berlin Museum. The title 
I. velasquezi, by which Bonaparte !* sought to distinguish the Guatemalan bird, also 
falls under the same category, the difference in the colour of the mandible being almost 
undoubtedly a seasonal feature. To the name Jcteria longicauda®2, bestowed in 
1853 by Mr. Lawrence upon the bird of Western North America, more consideration 
is due; for western specimens seem always to have a tail some four tenths of an inch 
longer than eastern ones, and the upper parts of the former are usually greyer in tint. 
For several years the two birds were considered quite distinct; but Dr. Cabanis, in 
186011, united them, a step to which Prof. Baird subsequently demurred2. A few 
years afterwards, however", the two races were partially united as “varieties” of one 
species; and this is the position at present accorded to them4®. We here treat them 
under one specific name, and its owner as a variable species, the tendency of the 
western birds being to have longer tails and greyer backs than those from the eastern 
portions of its range. As regards our territory, the eastern form seems to predominate, 
the western being only found, according to Dr. Finsch and Mr. Lawrence, in North- 
western Mexico *5 26, 
In Southern Mexico J. viridis seems to be pretty generally distributed, spreading 
across the continent from the shores of the Pacific at Tehuantepec to the Gulf of 
Mexico. In Guatemala the same is the case, and we have records of its occurrence in 
