PYROCEPHALUS.—SAYORNIS. 61 
than one continental species of this genus, unless indeed P. obscurus is really separable. 
Under any circumstances P. mexicanus and P. rubineus must pass under the same 
name. With at least one hundred and fifty specimens before us from various localities 
no other conclusion seems possible. An occasional example from S. America is blacker 
than others, but this does not appear to be the rule in any one locality. 
M. rubineus appears to be a very common bird on the southern side of the Rio Grande 
and Gila rivers, but rarer on the Texan side of the northern limit of its range. Thence 
it passes southwards through a large portion of Mexico, extending from ocean to ocean 
and living in equal abundance in the highlands of the valley of Mexico. It occurs 
also in Northern Yucatan and on Cozumel Island, as well as in British Honduras in the 
pine districts so characteristic of that country. In Guatemala it was found by 
Constancia, but in what locality we were never able to ascertain, for we only once met 
with it in our many journeys through that country and it certainly does not come 
within the hunting-grounds of the bird-collectors of Coban. It was only on emerging 
from the vast forests of Northern Vera Paz between the villages of San Luis and 
Poctum that Salvin found it abundant in the large open pine-tract crossed by the road 
to Peten. It was equally common in all similar districts of that region, but always in 
open country and not in the forests which line the river-banks. 
The brilliant plumage of the male bird and its habit of rising in the air and 
descending somewhat after the manner of Anthus pratensis render P. rubineus a 
conspicuous bird wherever it is found, and one not easily overlooked in a country 
inhabited by it. 
Its absence from all the country south of Guatemala until we reach Colombia is 
remarkable and not easily accounted for, as localities apparently suitable to it are to be 
found through most of the intervening countries. 
Mr. Hudson? has published some interesting notes on this species as observed by 
him in the Argentine Republic. In that country P. rubineus is a migratory bird, 
arriving about the end of September and soon afterwards commencing to breed. Its 
nest is composed of lichens, webs, and thistle-down, which are neatly woven into a 
compact nest and sometimes lined with feathers. The eggs, four innumber, are pointed, 
and spotted at the broad end with black and usually with a few large grey spots. 
SAYORNIS. 
Sayornis, Bonaparte, Ann. Sc. Nat. sér. 4, Zool. i. p. 133 (1854) (type Sayornis saya); Scl. Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 32. 
Aulanax, Cabanis, J. f. Orn. 1856, p. 2 (type Sayornis nigricans). 
Theromyias, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 68 (1859) (type Sayornis saya). 
Empidias, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. i. p. 69 (1859) (type Sayornis phoebe) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. xiv. p. 264. 
The position of this genus and its limits have been and still remain uncertain. Prof. 
Cabanis, who divides it into three genera, places all of them near Myiarchus in the 
