BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 525 



from Lima, Peru,^ but the latter has a considerable whitish space on the 

 sabterminal portion of the inner web of the outermost rectrix, S. 

 C'/iri/sops having merely an edging of white on the terminal half of the 

 .same feather. Whether the above mentioned differences are constant 

 or not can onl}^ be determined ))y examination of a much greater num- 

 ber of specimens. 



Sycalis chrysops Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1861, 376 (Mexico; coll. P. L. 

 Sclater); Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., ix, 1862, 340; Ibis, 1872, 45, 

 pi. 2, fig. 1. — Salvin, Ibis, 1866, 194 (Dueiias, Guatemala).— Sumichrast, 

 Mem. Boat. Soc. N. H., i, 1869, 551 (near Orizaba, Vera Cruz). — Salvin and 

 GoDMAN, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, i, 1886, 432. 



[Sycalis'] chrysops Sclater and Salvix, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 35. 



[Sycalis arvensis.'] Subsp. y. Sycalis chrysops Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xii, 

 1888, 384. 



[Fringilla'] chrysops Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 84, no. 7237. 



Genus VOLATINIA Reichenbach. 



Yolatinia Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat., 1850, pi. 76, tig. 16. (Type, Tanagra 

 jacarini Linnaeus. ) 



Very small Fringillidie with the bill acute-conical, the plumage uni- 

 form gloss}^ blue-black (adult male), or else brown above and buff 

 beneath, with the chest conspicuoush' streaked (adult female and 

 young). 



Size very small (wing not more than 50.80 millimeters). Bill mod- 

 erate, conical, acute, with nearly straight outlines, decidedly deeper 

 than broad at base; culmen (from concealed base) about two-thirds as 

 long as tarsus, very slightl}^ convex; gonys about equal to basal width 

 of mandible, nearly equal to length of maxilla from nostril, very 

 faintly convex; tomia nearly straight to the rather abrupt basal deflec- 

 tion. Nostrils exposed, small, longitudinally oval. Rictal bristles 

 scarcely obvious. Wing moderate (about three and a third times as 

 long as tarsus), rounded (ninth primary shortest); primaries exceed- 

 ing secondaries b}^ less than length of bill from nostril. Tail about 

 six-sevenths as long as wing, less than three times as long as tarsus, 

 much rounded, the rectrices broad, with rounded tips. Tarsal scutella 

 rather distinct; middle toe with claw about as long as tarsus; lateral 

 claws falling decidedl}^ short of base of middle claw; hallux rather 

 shorter than lateral toes, its claw shorter than the digit. 



Coloration. — Adult males glossy blue-black, w4th or without white 

 under wing-coverts; females and young brownish, paler (more or less 

 buffy) beneath, the chest conspicuously streaked with dusky. 



Range. — Continental Tropical America (southern Mexico to south- 

 ern Brazil, etc.); also islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and island of 

 Grenada, Lesser Antilles. (Monotypic.) 



^No. 159840, U. S. Nat. Mus.; J. Kalinowski. 



