400 FRINGILLIDZ. 
gatis, griseo-albis; subtus gula et abdomine medio albis, hypochondriis et crisso fuscis ; campterio alari 
flavo; rostro nigro, pedibus corylinis. Long. tota 8-0, alee 3:5, caude 4:0, rostri a rictu 0°75, tarsi 1-1. 
(Descr. maris ex Oaxaca, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Q mari omnino similis. 
Hab. Mextco!24, La Parada (Boucard*®), Oaxaca (Fenochio), alpine region of Vera 
Cruz (Sumichrast’), Jalapa (de Oca®®). 
Though this species has been long known, having been described by DuBus in 1847, 
from specimens in the Brussels Museum obtained in Mexico, it must be considered 
a rare bird in collections, and but few specimens have come under our notice. 
Sumichrast says that it is exclusively confined in its range to the alpine region of the 
State of Vera Cruz, where it is generally diffused throughout the pine-woods and 
mountains of Orizaba, where it is resident. The limits of the zone within which it is 
found range from 5000 to 10,000 feet. He adds that the plumage and habits of this 
bird present a remarkable analogy to those of Buarremon brunneinuchus. Both are 
ground-birds rather than perchers, and frequently meet together in the same localities. 
Buarremon ocai of Lawrence is, we believe, undoubtedly a synonym of this species, 
which was little known at the time Mr. Lawrence described it in 1865. 
PYRGISOMA. 
Pyrgisoma, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. i. p. 486 (1850). 
Including Pyrgisoma kieneri, concerning the habitat of which there is some doubt, 
six species of Pyrgisoma are found within our limits—one or two in Mexico, two in 
Guatemala, and two in Costa Rica, none of them probably being common to any two 
of these districts. Besides these, two species occur in Peru, which Mr. Sclater (Ibis, 
1885, p. 275) considers belong to Pyrgisoma, though one of them has been placed in 
Buarremon and the other in Pipilo. 
Pyrgisoma is evidently related to Pipilo, having much in common both as regards the 
form of the bill, the shortness of the wings, and other characters suitable for a terrestrial 
mode of life. But the coloration is divergent, and more suggestive of a connection 
with the Tanagrine genus Buarremon, which contains birds of very similar habits. 
Indeed it has long been evident that the status of these and some other allied forms 
requires careful revision. This is an undertaking outside the scope of this faunistic 
work. 
The bill of Pyrgisoma (P. biarcuatum) is moderately stout, the culmen slightly arched, 
the nostril at the lower anterior end of the nasal fossa with a membrane above ; beneath 
the nostrils the maxilla is rather tumid; the tomia is slightly angular and sinuated, 
and near the distal end is a faintly indicated notch; the rictal bristles are short but 
strong; the wing is much rounded, the fourth quill the longest, the third equals the 
fifth, the second equal to the outer secondaries, which are considerably longer than the 
