Bangs — Birds from Costa Rica and Chiriqui. 105 



Chiirackrs. — Similar to true S. cijanura (Gould), but larger with shorter 

 hill ; head, back and breast darker green ; under tail coverts dull steel blue 

 edged with rich ferruginous — the under tail coverts in true 8. cynmira are 

 edged with pale grayish. 



Mfiisiu-finevts. — Type, old adult c?: Wing, 54 ; tail, 28 ; culmen, 18. 



Compared with *S'. so/jhi;c (Bourc. & Muls.), the conunon Costa Rican 

 species, the new bird is at once distinguished by its more glittering green 

 crown, rustj' instead of grayish edges to under tail coverts and wholly 

 ditferent wing with conspicuous chestmit patches in it, and lined with 

 chestnut. 



The type locality of .S'(mr"('n>//«( c//'(Httra (Gould) is Realejo, Nicaragua, 

 near the Pacific coast in the northwestern part of the republic. I have 

 seen no specimens from this immediate region, but have compared the one 

 Costa Rican skin with three from tlie boundary Hne between Honduras 

 and Nicaragua, 180 miles fi-om Pacific coast, and one from Guatemala. 

 Gould's figure and description of the type agree minutely with these four 

 skins, and not at all with the type of my new form from Costa Rica. 



Ai)i)arent]y .V. cijiiuuvd liii/Kitli'iiK is an extremely rare bird, the type 

 being the only individual Underwood ever saw ; but it must be borne in 

 mind tliat theornis of much of Costa Rica remains still unknown. Many 

 tro|)ical American birds are exceedingly local, though perhaps common in 

 certain spots, and this hummer may yet be found in numbers somewhere. 



Oreopyra. 



Salvin in Cat. of Birds in British Museum and Hartert in Trochilidae, 

 both allow four forms to the genus of humming-birds, Oreopyra, confined 

 to Costa Rica, Chiri(pii and Veragua. Salvin gives these all si)ec;ific rank 

 while Hartert allows two species and two subspecies. 



With the specimens in the Underwood collection and those taken by 

 W. \V. Brown, Jr., on the Volcan de Chiriqui combined, I have before me 

 a series of u|)wards of 200 skins, representing three of the four recognized 

 forms. A critical study of this large amount of material has induced me 

 to alter somewhat the arrangement of the species and subspecies as adopted 

 l)y Hartert, which was as follows — 



la. Oreopyra leucaspis leucaspis Gould. Chiriqui. 

 lb. 0. leucaspis cinereicauda Lawr. Costa Rica. 



2a. 0. caloLrina caLoLrma Sal v. Costa Rica and western Panama. 



26. 0. calohona pedoralis Sal v. Costa Rica. 



The females of all are practically alike (I can tell none of them). 0. leu- 

 caspi.'^ and 0. calolxinneire distinguished by the male of the former having 

 a white and the male of the latter a violet throat. O. cinereicauda, how- 

 ever, is quite distinct in that the male has a gray tail (the others having it 

 steel blue) and a much bluer, less greenish crown. 0. pecturalis — a form I 

 have not seen — I should judge to have been based on abnormal specimens 



