BIRDS OF IVTORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 261 



by a distinct dusky sulimalar streak; sides of head, except as described, 

 grayish brown, relieved hy a postociilar streak or narrow stripe of 

 chestnut brown: chest, sides, and Hanks dull gra^vish buli' or pale wood 

 brown, the Hanks with indistinct, mostly concealed, hastate streaks of 

 dusky; under tail-coverts clearer bull'; maxilla dusk}' l)rown, paler 

 along tomium; mandible pale brownish (lilaceous or pinkish gra}' in 

 life i); legs and feet pale brownish. Length (skin), 127.00; wing, 55.88; 

 tail, 53.31; the lateral feathers about 12.70 shorter; exposed culmen, 

 12.70; depth of bill at base, 7.11; tarsus, 20.07; middle toe, 11.99. 



Northern Guatemala (Peten district). 



Aimo2)h!Ja hott<^i'!l petenica resembles very closely at first glance 

 darker-colored examples of the South American ^h/osjyiza inanhnhe 

 (Lithtenstein), but diti'ers ver}' much in structural characters, the wing- 

 being much more rounded (ninth primary shorter than third, instead 

 of longer than fourth), the tail strongly rounded, almost graduated, 

 instead of moderately dou])le-rounded, the tarsus much shorter, and the 

 toes relativeh" longer. The coloration is very much the same, but ^1. 

 h. 2:)ete7}lca is considerably darker, both above and l>elow, has the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts heavily spotted with Idackish. has the wing 

 edge paler yellow, and lacks entirely an}' yellow above the lores. 



The resemblance to ^1. h. sartoril, from ^'era Cruz and Chiapas, is 

 still closer, the coloration being practically identical, and 1 strongly 

 suspect that when a series from the Peten district shall have been com- 

 pared it may not be possible to maintain the distinctness of the two 

 supposed forms. (See comparison of measurements on page 260.) 



Ammodroinu>? jjetenicus Salvix, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1863, 189 (plains of Peten, 

 n. e. Guatemala; coll. Salvin and Godman) ; Ibii^, 1866, 193 (do. ).-rRiDGWAY, 

 Ibis, 1884, 44 (erit.).— Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xii, 1888, 694. 



\_A)nmodraiini.i] pelerdrui^ Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 96, no. 7419. 



[Ammodrottiu.'i'] petenicus ficLATER and 8alvix, Nom. Av. Xeotr., 1873, 32. 



Cofiirniodus petenicus Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, i, 1886, 385, 

 1)1. 28, fig. 2 (pine ridge of Poctum, near Peten). 



Aimopldla x)etenka Ridgway, Auk, xv, July (pub. 3Iay 14), 1898, 227, in text. 



Genus AMPHISPIZA Coues. 

 Amphispiza Coves, Birds Northwest, 1874, 234. (Type, Emheriza hilineatu Cassin. ) 



Small terrestrial Fringillidaj, with the tail shorter than the wing but 

 more than three times as long as tarsus; outermost (ninth) primary 

 not shorter than third; primaries exceeding secondaries by much uiore 

 than length of exposed culmen. and color plain gray or grayish brown 

 above, with or without narrow black streaks on back, the under parts 

 mostly white, with or without black throat-patch. 



Bill small (exposed culmen not more than half as long as tarsus, 

 depth at base less thau length of gonys and little, if any. greater than 

 its width); culmen nearly straight, l)ut faintly convex terminally and 

 basally; gonys straight or very faintlv convex, shorter than maxilla 

 from nostril; maxillary tomium nearly straight, but very faintly con- 



