Bangs A Neiv Race of the Mangrove Cuckoo. 54 



(For table of comparative measurements of vincentis, dominicsc&nd grena- 

 densis called there minor, see Clark, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist,, Vol. 32, 

 p. 266, 1905.) 



Remarks. As in this connection I carefully compared a large amount of 

 material, I feel that a few general remarks on the mangrove cuckoo are 

 necessary in order to make my point clear. Coccyzus abbotti Stone, of St. 

 Andrews, Id., is the only form I have not seen. It appears from the 

 description, however, to be well marked. The other races of C. minor 

 fall naturally into two groups : 



1. Including C. minor minor, C. in. maynardi and C. m. ncsiolcs, charac 

 terized by small size, and short, slender bill. 



These three forms are closely related, still there seem to be slight differ 

 ences by which specimens in the same condition of plumage can usually 

 if not always be told apart. In all three races, the buff or ochraceous colors 

 of the under parts fade out from exposure to light as the plumage becomes 

 worn. Thus, freshly moulted examples are much more intensely colored 

 below than skins in which the plumage has evidently been worn for some 

 time. Three skins of true C. minor from Costa Rica, taken at different sea 

 sons of the year, are very different one from the other in the color of the 

 under parts, and examples of C. minor nesiotes from Jamaica show the 

 same seasonal differences, so that general paleness or intensity of coloring 

 are not necessarily characters by which the different races can be told. 

 Curiously enough, among the large number of skins of C. m. maynardi ex 

 amined there are none in freshly moulted plumage. 



The real characters of these three races are, briefly, as follows : C*. 

 minor minor lacks almost entirely the grayish shading of the sides of 

 the neck found in both C. minor nesiotes and C. minor maynardi and by 

 this character can at once (in every skin I have examined) be distin 

 guished. C. minor nesiotes and C. minor maynardi, both having gray on the 

 sides of the neck, differ from each other in the former (nesiotes} being 

 nearly uniformly colored below, the throat and breast but little paler than 

 the belly and sides, whereas the latter (maynardi) has the throat and breast 

 dull grayish-white or whitish, in contrast to the buffer ochraceous of the 

 rest of the under parts. 



2. Including C. minor dominlcx, C. m. vincentis and C. m. grenadensis 

 distinguished by slightly larger size and much longer and stouter bill. 

 These three races differ among themselves slightly in size, size of bill, and 

 in color. C. m. dominicse is the largest, while its bill is intermediate in size 

 between those of the other two races; the under parts are deep tawny- 

 ochraceous in color, darker and richer than in either of the other two (of 

 course comparing specimens in the same condition of plumage). C. minor 

 vincentis is a little smaller, but has the largest bill of the three forms, the 

 colors of its under parts are paler than in dominicx and not so reddish, but 

 much darker than in grenadensis. C. m. grenadensis is the smallest, with 

 the smallest bill, and has the under parts distinctly paler than in either of 

 the others, with the throat and breast dull grayish-white or whitish. 



