NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. ft 



a. var. stolid us. 



Myiobius stolidus, Gosse, B. Jam. 1G8. 



Tyrannula stolida, Kaup, P. Z. S. 1851, 51. 



Myiarchus stolidus, Cab., J. f. O. 1855, 479, et auct. March, P. A. N. S. P. 

 1863, 288. 



Tyrannula (Myiarchus) stolida var. dominicensis, Bry., P. B. S. N. H. 

 xi. 18G6, 90. St. Domingo. 



Pitangus (Kaupomis) stolidus, Gray, H.-L. No. 5438. 



Myiarchus ("common torn fool") March, 1. c. 289. 



Myiarchus ("greater torn fool"), March, ibid. 



Myiarchus ("curiously feathered bird"), March, ibid. Al- 

 bino. 



M. fusco-olivaceus, pileo statim fusco, gula pallide cinerea, ventre 

 flavo, pogoniis rectricum interioribus fusco et rufo fere dimidiatis. 



Habitat Ins. Jamaica. St. Domingo. Hayti. 



Obs To take this variety as a standard for comparison of the 

 others (though of course it is no more "typical of the species" 

 than either of the others is), I find its particular character in the 

 combination of decidedly yellow belly with tail feathers so broadly 

 edged on the inner web with rufous that this color and the fuscous 

 occupy nearly equal areas. Either color may be restricted to one- 

 third of the width of the web, but neither is ever wanting. The 

 primaries are lightly touched with rufous on their outer webs ; the 

 secondaries and upper coverts are edged with soiled whitish, 

 always evident, generally yellowish, in young birds tinged with 

 rufous. The dark olive of the back is generally pretty pure, con- 

 trasting with the blackish cap ; but in weather-worn plumages the 

 upper par|s are grayish-brown, including the pileum, and in such 

 ragged state the wings show little edging, and the yellow of the 

 belly looks pale and dirty. 



This bird is best known by Jamaican material, but specimens 

 from some of the other islands are indistinguishable. I have 

 before me all the specimens upon which Mr. March (I. c.) based 

 his remarks upon the smaller Jamaican "petcharies" or "torn 

 fools ;" there is certainly nothing but pure stolidus among them, 

 though their individual variations are unusually great. 'Some of 

 the skins appear to somewhat exceed the normal limits above 

 given in size, and the differences in the size and shape of the bill 

 are remarkable. One has a twisted bill ; several others are albi- 

 notic, a condition to which the species seems singularly liable in 

 this locality. 

 18T2.] 



