BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 421 



wing 2.S [71.12 mm.], tail 2.7 [68.(3 mm.]. (Translation of ori<i;inal 

 description.)'^ 



Western Costa Rica (Punta Arenas). 



Eldinea arenarum Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1803, 1!)0 (Punta Arciui-s, w. 

 Costa Rica; coll. Salvin and Godman). 



[Elained] arenarum Sclater and Salvin, Nom. A v. Neotr., 1873, 49. 



Elainea arenarum Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., ix, 1868, 112 (Punta Arenas). — 

 Frantzius, Journ. Mr Orn., 1869, 307 (Costa Rica). — Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., xiv, 1888, 153.— S.\lvin and Godman, Biol. Centr., Am., Aves, ii, 1888, 

 pi. 36, fig. 3 (not text).— Allen, Bull. Am. Mus., N. H., ii, 1889, 208 (synon- 

 ymy; crit.). — Hartert, Novit. Zool., ix, 1902, 45, footnote (crit.). 



Sublegatus arenarum S.\lvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, ii, 1888, 37, 

 part (Punta Arenas, Costa Rica). — Hartert, Novit. Zool., ix, 1902, 45, foot- 

 note (crit.). 



[Sublcgat7is] arenar}im Sharpe, Hand-list, ill. 1901, 125, part. 



SUBLEGATUS GLABER Sclater and Salvin. 

 SMOOTH FLYCATCHER. 



Adults {sexes alike). — Above plain o;rayisli browai (deep hair brown), 

 the pileiim sometimes ver}^ slightly darker or browner, with feathers 

 darker mediall}", producing very indistinct streaks; wings and tail 

 dusky grayish brown with paler grayish brown edgings, the secondaries 

 edged (except basally) with dtdl whitish, the middle and greater wing- 

 coverts rather broadly tipped with the same or paler grayish brown; 

 indistinct supraloral line and eyelids dull white; a dusky grayish 

 loral spot immediately in front of eye ; auricular and postocular regions 

 similar in color to pileum and hindneck: suborbital and malar regions 



« Doctor Sclater's description of the same specimen (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xiv, 153) 

 is as follows: 



Above dark cinereous with a slight olive tinge; head, wings, and tail blackish; 

 outer margins of wing-coverts and secondaries and narrow tips of tail-feathers whitish; 

 beneath, throat and breast pale cinereous white; belly and under wing-coverts pale 

 sulphur-yellow; bill horn-color, feet blackish; whole length 5.5 inches, wing 2.7, 

 tail 2.6. 



Notwithstanding the conclusion of Messrs. Salvin and Godman (Biol. Centr.-Am., 

 Aves, ii, 37) that this bird is the same as Sublegatus glaber Sclater and Salvin, there 

 seems to be good reason for believing they are in erroi*. Dr. J. A. Allen (Bull. Am. 

 Mus. N. H., ii, 1889, 208) says: 



"Respecting this, one may well be excused from venturing an opinion unless able 

 to examine the type. While Mr. Sclater retains the species in Elainea, Mr. Salvin, 

 the original describer, refers it to Sublegatus, and considers it not specifically different 

 from Sublegatus glaber Scl. & Salv. S. glaber is figured in P. Z. S., 1868, pi. xiii, fig. 2, 

 and E. arenarum in the "Biologia," pi. xxxvi, fig. 3. A comparison of the two plates, 

 purporting to represent the same species, is enough to warn away th(^ timid from any 

 interference in such a complicated case. It is to b(> hoped, however, that some expla- 

 nation will be given of how the same species can differ so grc>atly as these figures repre- 

 sent, in respect both to the form of the bill and coloration, particularly in the color of 

 the loral region and the lower surface generally." 



Dr. Ernst Hartert more recently says (Novit. Zool., ix, 1902, 45, f(X)tnote'i th(>y are 

 not the same, and that in S. arenarum the pileum "is much darker, almost blackish." 



