392 FRINGILLIDA. 
Peucea ruficeps eremeca, N. C. Brown, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vil. pp. 26, 38 °. 
?, Scl. P. Z.S. 1857, p. 214”. 
Supra cinerea, plumis medialiter brunneis cinereo late marginatis; pileo fere omnino rufo cinereo intermixto, 
vitta verticali indistincta, linea superciliari ante oculos et oculorum ambitu albis, genis et cervicis 
lateribus pure cineriis ; remigibus et rectricibus intus nigricantibus extus brunnescente-cinereo marginatis, 
secundariis brunnescentioribus et latius marginatis, tectricibus extus dorso fere concoloribus; subtus 
albicante-cinerea, gutture toto albo striga utrinque nigra; ventre medio lactescente albo, utrinque cum 
crisso fulvescente tincto ; rostri maxilla nigra, mandibula cum pedibus pallidis. Long. tota 6°4, ale 2°7, . 
caude 3:0, tarsi 0-8. (Descr. exempl. ex Puebla, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Ammodromus 
Hab. North America, Texas ®, Arizona.—MeExico, temperate region of Vera Cruz 3, 
Puente Colorado? (Sumichrast), Orizaba (Botteri2"), Puebla!, Oaxaca 2 (Boucard). 
Mr. Sclater based his description of this species upon a specimen from Puebla and 
three from Orizaba, and though one of the latter seems to have been correctly 
described in ‘The History of North-American Birds,’ the name P. bowcardi has latterly 
been associated by American authors with a bird from Arizona which is so slightly 
separated from the Californian P. rujficeps that we doubt its being a definite race; the 
crown is of a slightly paler chestnut, and the dorsal feathers have less defined edges, 
giving the back a more uniform tint. The true P. bowcardi seems to be distinct from 
either of these birds; not only is the crown darker, but the central feathers have pale 
edges, so that there is a faint median stripe on the crown; the dorsal feathers have 
well-defined rufous-brown centres and are broadly edged with dark grey, giving the 
back a more definitely striped appearance than is the case in P. ruficeps, and still less 
in the Arizona form of it. P. bowcardi, however, does occur in Arizona; a male 
obtained by Mr. G. B. Sennett at Catalina Mill, lst October, 1883, now in the British 
Museum, agrees accurately with the Mexican type; and it also occurs in Texas, for we 
have no doubt that the bird described by Mr. Brown as Peucwa ruficeps eremaca is the 
true P. doucardi, and this opinion is made certain in that Mr. Brown states that his 
specimens agree with an example from Orizaba typical of P. boucardi! 
The difficulties connected with the tangled synonymy of this species are to some 
extent dissipated if we admit, as seems undoubtedly to be the case, that P. rujiceps 
does not occur at all in Mexico, unless the pale Arizona form of it crosses the Sonoran 
frontier, which is extremely probable. On the other hand P. boucardi spreads over the 
whole country and passes into Texas, and also into Arizona, where it is found in contact 
with the Arizona P. rujiceps. 
As unfortunately is so frequently the case, nothing of the habits of P. doucardi have 
reached us from Mexico, but Mr. Brown tells us that it is not uncommon, and appa- 
rently resident at Boerne in South-western Texas, in rocky localities usually near the 
creek, but is also found in barren places a mile or more from water. The bird is of shy 
skulking habits, rarely taking wing, but hiding from danger in bushes and weeds. The 
song of the male is a pretty warble, but not of so fine a quality as that of P. estivalis. 
