330 REVIEW OP AMERICAN BIRDS. [PART I. 



still darker narrow line each side the chin along lower edge of under mandible, 

 the space between this stripe and the one through the eye like the supra- 

 ocular stripe, and like it, tinged anteriorly with buff; a decided indication of 

 this color seen also on the chin. 



The ashy cap is so much overlaid with olivaceous as to be scarcely percep- 

 tible, and without distinct outline ; the outer edge is dusky as in V. olivaceus, 

 but almost inappreciable. The primary quills are dark brown. 



(No. 23,958, % .) Total length, 5.50 ; wing, 3.25 ; tail, 2.50 ; difference of 

 exposed portion of 1st and 2d primary, .20 ; difference of 5th and 2d, .30 ; 

 length of bill from forehead, .85, from nostril, .47, along gape, .90 ; tarsus, .75 ; 

 middle toe and claw, .60, claw alone, .20; hind toe and claw, .47, claw 

 alone, .22. 



The quills in all the Jamaican specimens before me show great 

 constancj in proportions, the second and third about equal, the 

 former if anything slightly longer ; the fourth next, the first (or 

 outer) nearly midway between the fourth and fifth, sometimes a little 

 nearer the latter. The same formula prevails in St. Croix and one 

 Sombrero skin ; in a St. Thomas specimen the first quill is but little 

 longer than the fifth, in this respect more like the average of Cuban 

 and Bahaman birds. 



The coloration as above described varies somewhat in other speci- 

 mens, the buff wash on sides of head and chin being sometimes 

 more decided, sometimes less so, but always appreciable. 



Messrs. Sclater & Salvin (P. Z. S. 1864, 348) refer to a specimen 

 of "V. altiloqua''' from the Isthmus of Panama. May not this be 

 the V. frenata of Dubus, from Ocana, New Grenada ?* 



Vireosylma atripennis, of Mr. Lawrence, from Sombrero island, 

 difiTers in blacker quills and tail feathers, a dusky tinge on top of 

 head, and to a less degree beneath, as also on the inner edges of 

 quills and tail feathers. 



After a careful examination of the type specimen, however, I am 

 unable to satisfy myself of its being really a distinct species. The 

 quills and tail feathers are, it is true, darker than in V. calidris, but 

 an investigation shows that to be due, in part at least, to a blackish 

 foreign matter, partly deposited in grains, which can be rubbed off, 

 and is removable to a considerable extent by benzine, but not by 

 water. After washing the quills on one side in benzine, I found no 



• An identification of Vireosylvia frenata of Dubus (Bulletin de Bruxelles, 

 XXII, I, 1855, 150; Ocana, N. Grenada), if truly of this genus, with either V. 

 calidris or barbatula, can hardly be justified. From the description it would 

 seem to be much less olivaceous above (yellowish-ash), the top of the head 

 pure ash ; the quills and tail feathers ashy brown, margined with yellowish, 

 very different from the two species just mentioned ; the length of 19| centi- 

 metres, or more than 7^ inches, greatly exceeds their dimensions. 



