NO. 1116. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



465 



Indies. The species themselves (those peculiar to the group being of 

 course excluded) afford better evidence. 



Names of species. 



Deudroioa aureola 



( 'docvzus jiielanocoryphus 



Fn-gata ai|iiila 



Siila cyandps 



SulaiiclMiuxii 



Snla bvcwstcri 



Siila liiscator 



Pljai'tLon a'tliereus 



Anli-a heripilias ? 



Herodias egretta? 



Kyctaiiassa violacea 



Plid'iiic ()pt«Miis rubiT 



(Jalliiiiila galeata 



Himautopus iiiexicauus 



Summary 



Cocos 

 Islaud. 



Colora 

 bian 

 Isthmus 

 uoft h ot 

 Panama. 



West 

 Indies. 



Coast of 

 Ecuador. 



Were the abovo figures correct, they would point very decidedly to 

 a Central xVinericau and West Indian origin for the noupecnliar rCvsi- 

 dent birds of the Galapagos, but unfortunately there are so many 

 interrogation points, indicating doubt m regard to the range of the 

 species, that they can only be accepted as approximately accurate. 

 l>endroica aureola., for exami)]e, is said to occur at least as far north 

 along the coast of Colombia as Gorgona Island, and may extend as far 

 as the isthmus, if not farther. 



Turning now our attention to the six peculiar genera of Galapagos 

 birds, the question of their relationships may be briefly discussed as 

 fol'ows : 



(1) Nesominms. This has evidently been derived from Mimus (or at 

 least from the same stock), a genus found throughout Central America, 

 the West Indies, and South America, the Galapagos forms being at 

 least as nearly related to the larger West Indian species (.1/. liiUli, 

 March) as to any other, and far more nearly than to the single Ecua- 

 doreau species [M. longicaudatus., Tschudi).' 



{2) Certhidea. This genus was formerly placed among the CoerebidK, 

 but more recently has been transferred to the Min'otiltida'.' It has no 

 very near relative among the known continental or West Indian birds, 

 but in general appearan<*e is very much like a smaller "edition" of the 

 Hawaiian genus Oreomi/za, belonging to the chiefly Polynesian family 

 Dicceida;. 



^ M. longicaiidafus haii, like the North American M. jioh/fjloffo'i and allied forms of 

 the Greater Antilles, a white wing-speculum; the Galapagos species of XeKomimiis, 

 the Central American MbuKft (jUvus ( Vieillot), M. hiUii, and the species of eastern and 

 southern South America have not, except M. iriurns (Vieillot), which stands quite 

 apart from other species by reason of its unique wing-pattern. 



^Lucas, Proc.U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIT, pp. 309-311. 

 Proc. K. M. vol. xix 30 



