BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 



211 



Adult female. — Similar to the male and often not distinguishable; 

 but usually smaller and slightly duller in color; length (skins), 

 233-253 (245); wing, 98-110 (106.7); tail, 105-125 (115.4); exposed 

 culmen, 22-24 (22.6) ; tarsus, 28-31 (29.6) ; middle toe, 20.5-22 (21.5) .« 



Young. — Uniform slate color or sooty slate-gray, the wings and tail 

 more bluish slate; feathers of throat, pileum, etc., short (not sub- 

 lanceolate as in adults), entirely concolor with other parts; loral and 

 auricular regions dark slate or slate-black. 



Western, central, and southern Mexico in States of Sinaloa (Mazat- 

 lan), southern Chihuahua (Jesus Maria), Durango (Chacala), Jalisco 

 (Barranca Ibarra; San Sebastian), Mexico (Temascaltepec), Morel os 

 (Titela del Volcan), Puebla (Chietla; Tochimilco), Vera Criiz (Jalapa; 

 Cordova; Orizaba; Mirador; Jico),Oaxaca (Juquila; Pluma; Talea; 

 Villa Alta; Totontepec) , Guerrero (Omilteme) , Colima (Colima; plains 

 of Colima) , and Michoacan (Los Reyes) . 



Orpheus cxrulescens Swainson, Pliilos. Mag., new ser., i, 1827, 3G9(Mexico; coll. 

 Cambridge Mus.). 



M\ivius\ cxrulescens Gray, Gen. Birds, i, 1847, 221. 



[Mimus\ cxrulesceris Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 262, no. 3838. 



Miinus cscrulescens Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1856, 294 (Cordova, Vera 

 Cruz). 



Melanotis cxrulescens Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 276 (cited under M. melano- 

 tis). — Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1859, 337(monogr.), 370 (Talea, Juquila, 

 Villa Alta, and Totontepec, Oaxaca); Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 7. — Baird, 

 Review Am. Birds, 1864, 56 (Jalapa and Mirador, Vera Cruz; Colima; Mazat- 

 lan). — SuMicHRAST, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H., i, 1869, 543 (Vera Cruz, up to 

 about 4,300 ft.).— Lawrence, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H., ii, 1874, 266, part 



« Nine specimens. 



Specimens fnnn eastern Mexico compare with those from western Mexico in average 

 measurements as follows: 



The single specimen (an adult male) from Chihuahua (Jesus Maria, April 8) is slightly 

 but decidedly paler than any other specimen examined, though some Mazatlan 

 examples are nearly as pale. If the difference presented by this specimen were con- 

 stant in a series from Chihuahua, the bird of that extreme northern locality would 

 constitute a well-marked form. The series of specimens from eastern ^[exico is much 

 too small to show whether they differ constantly from western birds. The few exam- 

 ined apparently do not. 



