6'24 BIRDS OF THE GA LATA (i OS A RCHIPELA a 0—EIJ)G WA Y. vol. xix. 



SYNOrsiS OF AMERICAN WHITE-BELLIED H.EMATOPI. 



fl'. Riiiiip and lower back white. (Tala-arctic legiou, accidental iu Green- 

 laud ) 1. H. ostraleyus, Liuutuus. 



a-. Kniiip and lower back dusky. 



hK Breast white, like belly, etc. 



c'. Mantle {grayish brown or brownish slate; npper tail-coverts wholly white 



in adult and under ])riniary coverts almost wholly white; lower 



chest not mottled or spotted with black. (Atlantic coast irom 



Nova St'otia to lira/.il, and I'acilic coast from western Mexico to 



Chili) 2. H. palliatus, Temniinck. 



c^ Mantle dark sooty brown or brownish black; shorter upper tail-coverts 

 entirely blackish and longer ones varied with Ijlack at ends; under 

 ])riiuarv coverts chietiy dusky; lower chest mottled or spotted with 

 dusky, 

 rf'. Under tail-coverts wholly white; more black on under wing-coverts; 

 tail, 3.50-4.06 (average. 3.80) ; culmen, 3.10-3.80 (3.32) ; tarsus, 2.07- 

 2.20(2.15); middle toe 1.59-1.89 (1.70). (Galapagos Archipelago.) 



3. H. (jaJapagensis, Ridgway. 



d'. Lateral under tail-coverts spotted or irregularly barred with dusky; 



less black on under wing-coverts; tail, 3.90-4.25 (average, 4.05); 



culmen, 2.70-3.05 (2.93); tar.su8, 2.18-2.30 (2.24); middle toe, 1.40- 



1.55 (1.47). (Lower California, both coasts.) 



4. H. fiazari, Brewster. 



b^. Breast wholly black, like head and neck. (Southern extremity of South 



America ) 5. H. lencopoduN, Garnot. 



An examination of eight additional specimens of the Galapagos 

 oyster-catclier rednces the alleged color differences between that bird 

 and the Lower Californian form described as H.frazari by Mr. Brewster 

 to two, namely, the smaller amount of dark color on the under surface 

 of the wing and the partially spotted or barred under tail-coverts of 

 the latter. Mr. IJrewster says that H.frazari is, in part, distinguished 

 by its "distinctly brown (instead of sooty black) back, scapulars, and 

 ^'ing-coverts;'' but some of the more recently obtained specimens of 

 JLoalapoijensis, having a mixture of old and new feathers in the |)lum- 

 age, show that this character cannot be depended on, the old feathers 

 having exactly the brown color of the mantle in H. frazari. In the 

 coloration of the upper breast, where the black of the upper chest joins 

 the white beneath it, there is no difference between the two supposed 

 forms, the "broad zone of mottled black and white feathers " being 

 just as well developed in H. ffalapaf/ensis as in H.frazari. 



It is evidently yet too soon to say whether the birds from the two 

 distant regions are really different or not. a larger number of specimens, 

 particularly of the Lower Californian bird, being necessary to decide 

 the question. When, however, we consider the very slight characters 

 on which the separation of H.frazari now rests, and also the fact that 

 Sula uehouxii, kS. hrcicntcri, and Pelevanns califoriiicus are found both in 

 the (ralapagos and Lower California, it would be not at all surprising 

 should the oyster-catchers of the two distant localities also prove to 

 be identical. 



