1908.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 499 



of the wings, below like colomhianus except that crissum is paler and 

 the rectrices are uniform rusty brown or pale ferruginous, except for 

 the subterminal black band and white tips ; some of the feathers have 

 the black flecking near the base, but it is not apparent unless the tail 

 is fully spread. 



Specimens examined from Mexico — Esquinapa, Mazatlan, Juana- 

 catlan, Barranca, Ibarra, Calete, Tupila River, Arroyo de Lemones. 



Piaya oayana melileri (Bonap.). 



Piaya mehleri Bonaparte, Conspct. A^'ium, I, p. 110, 1850 [Santa Fe de 



Bogota — loc. err. fide Sclater, P. Z. S., 1860, p. 285 = Cent. Amer.]. 

 Piaya thermophila Sclater, P. Z. S., 1859, p. -368 [Mexico and Guatemala]. 

 ?Cuculus ridibundus GnieHn, Syst. Nat., I, p. 414, 1788 [New Spain]. 

 7 Cuculus rubicundus Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool., IX, p. 109, 1815 [Mexico]. 



Length of wing, 5.80; tail, 10.90. 



Above like cayana, below darker, crissum dull black, thighs dark 

 gray; under side of rectrices dull black, outermost feather usually 

 uniform, the others with the outer vane more or less rusty, except for 

 a subterminal black area. Mexican birds average less rusty than those 

 from farther south. Occasional specimens have a slight watering of 

 rusty on some of the inner webs ; the subterminal band is never defined. 

 The coloration of the tail below is practically intermediate between 

 cayana and insulana. 



Mexican and Yucatan birds have the bill distinctly smaller than 

 those from Nicaragua and Panama. Mexican birds average larger than 

 those from the Central American countries and Yucatan specimens 

 average smaller, but these differences do not seem sufficiently marked 

 to deserve recognition in nomenclature. 



Specimens examined from Mexico — San Tan, Jalapa, Tampico, 

 Tehuantepec, Tabasco, Vera Cruz, Orizaba, Potrgro, Yucatan; Guate- 

 mala; Honduras — Ceiba, Truxillo, San Pedro Sula, Yaruca, Segovia 

 River; Salvador; Nicaragua — Managua, Chinnudeza, Escondido; Costa 

 Rica — San Jose, Guayabo, Pigres, Volcan de Irazu, Bonilla, Talamanca, 

 San Domingo de San Mateo; Panama — Boco del Toro, Chiriqui David, 

 Boquete. 



Piaya cayana cauoae subsp. nov. 



Length of wing, 5.60; tail, 12. 



Above bay strongly tinged with chestnut or dull ferruginous, wings 

 and tail with a wine purple gloss. Below similar to nigracrissa, but the 

 thighs as well as the crissum are deep black and the lower part of the 

 abdomen, so that this color encroaches upon the gray area more than in 

 any other race; under side of rectrices almost exactly as in insulana, 



