BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERKW. 581 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OP MICROCHERA. 



a. Under parts purplish l>lark or dark metallic reddish i)urplo; pilcum \vhit(>. (Adult 

 males.) 

 h. Under parts and anterior upper parts purplish lilack; tail more extensively 

 white basally. (Western Panama.) 



Microchera albo-coronata, adult male (p. r)Sl). 

 hh. Under parts and upper parts (except pileum) metallic reddish juirple; tiiil 

 less extensively white basally. (Costa Rica.) 



Microchera parvirostris, adult male (]>. 582). 



aa. Under parts very pale gray or grayish white; pileum metallic greenish. 

 b. Lateral rectrices with basal half white and white tip broader. 



Microchera albo-coronata, adult female (p. 5SI). 



bh. Lateral rectrices mostly black (only the extreme base whitish or grayish) and 



white tip naiTower Microchera parvirostris, adult female (p. 582). 



MICROCHERA ALBO-CORONATA (Lawrence). 



VERAGUAN SNOW-CAP. 



Adult male. — Entire pileum inunaciilate satiny wliite, tlte feathers 

 distinctly outlined, jirodncino; a squainate or imbricated ed'ect; nape 

 and liindneck pinplisli black, passins:; into very dark metallic reddisli 

 coppery purple on back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, this into much 

 brighter coppery purple on nimp and upper tail-coverts; middle ]-)air 

 of rectrices dark coppery bronze; other rectrices Vv'hite for basal two- 

 thirds (approximately), black terminally, the outermost narrowly 

 margined at ti]:) with grayish; remiges dusky faintly glossed with 

 pur])lish; under parts (except under tail-coverts) and sides of liead 

 black, glossed with metallic reddish purple when viewed from behind; 

 under tail-coverts white; bill black; iris dark brown; feet dusky; 

 length (sldns), Gl-63 (02); wing, 39-41.5 (40.5); tail, 20-20.5 (20.2); 

 culmen, 11-11.5 (11.2).« 



Adult female. — Pileum and hindneck dark metallic green; rest of 

 upper parts brighter green, jiassing into bronze on u]')]ier tail-coverts 

 and middle rectrices; otlier rectiices wliite for basal half and black 

 terminally or subterminally, the two outermost pairs broadly tipped 

 with white; remiges as in adult male; under parts ])lain pale gray 

 anteriorly, fading into white posteriorly; bill, etc., as in adult male; 

 length (skin), 06; wing, 40.5; tail, 19.5; culmen (bill broken).^ 



Immature male. — Similar to the adtdt female, but })ileuni bordered 

 laterally by a superciliary stripe of white (forehead sometimes gra}^- 

 ish), and under parts mixed more or less (according to age) with 

 blotches or areas of pur]:)lish black. 



Western Panama (Belen, Cordillera del Chucu, and Santiago, 

 Vcrfigua) ; Costa Rica ? 



o Three Bpecimena. ^ One Bpccimen. 



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