BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 187 



Poocsetes gramineus coiifinis American Ornithologists' Union, Cheek List, 1886, 

 no. 540rt, part. 



(?) Poocaetes gramineus conjinis Anthony, Auk, iii, 1886, 168 (Washington Co., 

 Oregon). — Evermann, Auk, iii, 1886, 182 (Ventura Co., Cahfornia, resi- 

 dent).— Townsend, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1887, 217 (Shasta Co., n. Cah- 

 fornia). — Fannin, Check List Birds Brit. Cohimbia, 1891, 35 (w. side of 

 Cascades, inchiding Vancouver I.).— Rhoads, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 189.3, 48, 63 (Victoria, Vancouver I.). 



P.\_ooc£ties'] gramineus rnnfin is JiiDGWAY, 3Ian. N. Am. Birds, 1887, 407, part. 



Poocxtes gramineus affinis Miller, Auk, v, Oct., 1888, 404 (Salem, Oregon; coll. 

 G. S. ]\Iiller, jr.). — American Ornithologists* Union Committee, Suppl. to 

 Check List, 1889, 12; Check List, abridged ed., 1889, and 2d ed., 1895, no. 

 5406.— RiDGWAY, Man. N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1896, 601.— Grinnell, Pub. 

 ii, Pasadena Acad. Sci., 1898, 36 (Los Angeles Co., Cahfornia, Sept. 16 to 

 Apr. 25) . 



Pooecetes gramineus affinis Gill, Auk, xvi, Jan., 1899, 23. 



GenLTS PASSERCULUS Bonaparte. 



Pas>'erculus Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List., 1838, 33. (Type, FringiUa savanna 

 Wilson. ) 



Small, conspicuously streaked terrestrial Fringillidse, resembling 

 Pooecetes but with wing-tip much shorter than tarsus, the latter nearly 

 one-third as long as wing; middle toe, with claw, nearly as longas tarsus; 

 tail not more than three-fourths as long as wing, the outermost rec- 

 trices without white. Differing from Centronyx in relatively longer tail 

 (shorter than wing by much less than length of tarsus), with broader 

 and less acuminate rectrices; hallux not longer than inner toe, its claw 

 not longer than distance from nostril to tip of maxilla; fifth primary 

 much shorter than sixth; coloration very different. 



Coloration. — Above brownish or grayish, more or less streaked, the 

 pileum with or without a paler median and darker lateral stripes; no 

 white on lateral (or other) rectrices; no distinct wing-bands, but tertials 

 conspicuously blackish central!}'; under parts whitish, streaked, except 

 on abdomen and under tail-coverts, with brown or blackish, the throat 

 with or without streaks; more or less distinct superciliary and malar 

 stripes of pale grayish, light dull buffy or whitish, the former some- 

 times yellowish, especially anteriorly. 



Range. — Whole of North America, including Mexico. 



This genus contains apparentl}^ four distinct specific types, repre- 

 sented, respectively, by P. irrinctps., P. sandioiehensls, P. heldingi, 

 and 1\ rosti'atus., the second and last including several subspecific 

 forms. It is possible, however, that the first mav be really onl}' an 

 insular form of the second (as has already been claimed), and it is 

 almost equally possible that the third may intergrade with both the 

 second and last, one of the several forms of southern California {P. 

 halop/tilus) being at least suggestive of such relationship. For the 

 present, however, or until intergradation can be satisfactoril}^ demon- 

 strated, I prefer to consider the three types specifically distinct. 



