358 FRINGILLIDZ. 
parte basali pallida, pedibus corylinis. Long. tota 4:0, ale 1:9, caude 1-7, tarsi 0-6. (Deser. maris ex 
Duefias, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 
9 fusca, alis caudaque nigricantibus, dorsi colore limbatis ; subtus multo pallidior, pectore fusco striato, abdo- 
mine medio sordide albo. (Descr. femine ex Retalhuleu, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Mexico’, Mazatlan (Grayson 1"), Presidio (Forrer), mountains of Colima (Xantus??), 
valley of Mexico (White*), Jalapa (de Oca”), hot and temperate regions of Vera 
Cruz (Sumichrast *), Guichicovi (Sumichrast 1%), Merida in Yucatan (Schott), 
Gaumer); GuaTEMALA (Constancia‘"), Duefias, Escuintla, Retalhuleu, plain of 
Salama, Choctum (0. S. & Ff. D. G.); Hoypuras, San Pedro (G. Wl. Whitely ®) ; 
NicaRraGua, Sucuya (Nutting 2+); Costa Rica (v. Frantzius!), San José (v. Frantzius?), 
Barranca, Grecia (Carmiol 1°); Panama, David (Hicks®), Chitra (Arcé 1%), Lion 
Hill (*\Leannan' §), Paraiso Station (Hughes).—CoLomBia22; VENEZUELA; GUIANA1. 
All our Mexican and Central-American males of this bird are alike in being steel-black, 
with a few white feathers on the shoulders, the under wing-coverts and the bases of the 
quills being black; they agree with a male from Bartica Grove, in British Guiana, and 
with the description of Fringilla splendens of Vieillot. Graf von Berlepsch refers speci- 
mens from Bucaramanga in Colombia, and Puerto Cabello in Venezuela, to the same 
bird. From Guia and Barra do Rio Negro we have two specimens, which are almost 
entirely steel-black with hardly a trace of white on the shoulder. Examples from 
Para have the bases of the quills and the under wing-coverts more or less white, and 
agree with Brazilian examples, except that in the latter the white is a little more 
extended. Specimens from the Cauca valley, Ecuador, and southwards to Bolivia have 
less white than Brazilian birds, but still this feature is very apparent. 
Thus two races of Volatinia seem to be recognizable by the presence or absence of 
white on the under wing-coverts and quills. Their ranges, though remarkable, are 
tolerably definite. The northern form, which should bear the name Volatinia 
splendens (based upon the Cayenne bird), passes from Mexico through Central America 
and thence to the lower Magdalena valley, Venezuela, the Rio Negro (rather aberrant), 
and the lowlands of Guiana; the southern form stretches from Brazil, Bolivia, and 
Peru to the lower Amazons and passes northwards to the Cauca valley: this should be 
called V. jacarina (Linn.). These birds have usually been treated as one species, but 
seeing that their differences are associated with a definite distribution they may well 
bear distinct names. 
Volatinia splendens is found from the sea-level to an altitude of 5000 feet, and is 
a common resident species in Mexico and Central America, being found in all open 
country where low bushes are thickly distributed. The male is a. conspicuous bird, 
sitting on an outer spray of a bush, and every now and then springing into the air and 
alighting again on the same twig from which he rose. 
Salmon took some nests of Volatinia jacarina near Medellin in Colombia. They 
were, he says, carefully concealed very close to or on the ground amongst grass or 
