194 



BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



AMBLYCERCUS HOLOSERICEUS (Lichtenstein). 

 PREVOST'S CACiaUE. 



Adult nude. — Entirely black, most intense anteriorly, duller, and 

 usually more or less tinged with slate color, on rump, tail-coverts, and 

 posterior under parts; bill light olive-yellowish (pale yellowish green 

 to pale sulphur 3'^ellow in life), sometimes partly dusky in dried skins; 

 iris white or light yellow; legs and feet dusky horn color in di'ied 

 skins, plumbeous in life; length (skins), 200.7-264.2 (225); wing, 

 93.5-109.2 (101.6); tail, 91.4-114.3 (100.3); culmen, 28.5-33.3 (31); 

 depth of bill at base, 13.5-17.5 (15); tarsus, 31.8-35.6 (33); middle toe, 

 19.1-23.4(21.3).' 



Adult female. — Similar to the adult male, but decidedly smaller and 

 the black rather duller; length (skins), 190.5-233.7 (206.8); wing, 

 82.6-97(91.9); tail, 88.9-101.6 (93.2); culmen, 27.9-31.8 (30); depth of 

 bill at base, 12.7-14 (13.2); tarsus, 20.2-31.8 (30.7); middle toe, 19.8- 

 21.1 (20.3).- 



Southeastern Mexico, in States of Tamaulipas (Alta Mira), Vera Cruz 

 (hot and temperate zones), Puebla (Metlaltoyuca), Mexico (Valley of 

 Mexico), Oaxaca (Teotalcingo, Playa Vicente, Santa Eligenia, etc.), 

 Chiapas (Guichicovi, Huehuetan), and Yucatan, through Central 

 America to Colombia, Venezuela, and western Ecuador (Babahoyo, 

 Gua3"aquil, Foreste del Rio Peripa, etc.). 



Sturnus holosericeus Lichtenstein, Preis-Verz. Mex. Vog., 1831, 1 (Mexit-o); 



Journ. fiir Orn., 1863, 55 (reprint). 

 Cacicus holosericeus Salvin, Cat. Strickland Coll., 1882, 262 (Guatemala). 



^ Eighteen specimens. 



^ Seven specimens. 



There is a remarkable range of individual variation of dimensions in this species, 

 and some variation with locality, but the series is not nearly large enough to show 

 whether the latter is important or not. Averages of the specimens examined are as 

 follows: 



