168 Bangs — What is Icterus Giialanensis Underwood? 



ends with the forehead in /. giraudn) extended back to beyond 

 the eye, where it ends in a l)roken line. In I. melanocephalus 

 the whole head down to the upper part of the neck is black. 



The accompanying drawing from a sketch made by Miller 

 shows the distribution of black upon the head in tbe three species. 



Gualane?isis 



Giratidi 



Melanocephalus 



The measurements of the type are well within the extremes 

 of those of Icterus giraadtl, which varies considerably in size 

 throughout its extensive range. They show the bird to have 

 been larger with a larger bill than the maxinunn size reached 

 by /. melanocephalus, and altogether larger than Icterus prosthe- 

 melas, the young of wliieh Ridgway suggests (Birds of N. and 

 Mid. Am., Part II, p. 295, footnote, and in synonymy of /. 

 prosthemelas, with a query, lo. 271.) I gitalanensis might pos- 

 sil)ly be. 



Therefore, Icterus gualanevsis is, so to speak, an example of 

 I. gi.raudii perfectly typical in every respect except in having 

 the black of head extending somewhat farther l)ack. It comes 

 from a region almost in the middle of the range of /. girninlii, 

 so that it can hardly he a geographical form of that species, and 

 the chances seem strongly in fa\T)r of its bring a " freak." Un- 

 fortunately, how(n'er, this can not l)e considered as provecl, ami 

 I. gualanensis must take its place among the nunil )vv of ' ' species ' ' 

 of tropical American birds that rest on the strength of a single 

 peculiar individual. Cases of this sort are not unconnnon 

 among the humming birds and Hartert's method of treating 

 them in his Trochilidse* seems to me the best that could be 



* Das Tierreich, Berlin, 1900. 



