68 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Family ICTERID^E. 



ICTERUS PYRRHOPTERUS COMPSUS, new subspecies. 



Charx. suhsp. — Similar to Icterus jjyrrhoptevus pyrrJiopttrus.^ l)ut 

 humeral patch ferrugineous instead of chestnut, 



Desqrii)tion. — Type, adult male, No. 60595, U.S.N.M. ; Cuyaba, 

 Matto Grosso, Brazil; J. Natterer. — Entire plumage gloss}^ black, 

 with the exception of a bright ferrugineous wing patch involving all 

 the superior coverts excepting the greater series. Length of wing 

 (average of 4 specimens), 94.3 mm.; tail. ^\.^ mm.; exposed culmen, 

 17 mm.; tarsus, 23.1 mm. 



The character upon which this new form rests — that is, the much 

 paler color of the reddish l)rown humeral area — is, notwithstanding 

 some individual variation, quite constant in all of the considerable 

 number of specimens examined. Birds from the neighborhood of 

 Chapada, Matto Grosso, Brazil, are of the same form, but those from 

 Corumba, farther to the southward, arc true pyrrlwpterm. Bona- 

 parte's name Pe7idulinus periporjjhyrm^ was based on the bird from 

 Bolivia, which, as proved by specimens examined, is the same as that 

 of Paraguay, the type locality of pyrrliopUrm."- The present race is 

 therefore undescribed. 



ICTERUS PYRRHOPTERUS ARGOPTILUS, new subspecies. 



Chars, suhsj). — Like Icferuspyrrhopterusi^yrrhopterus in color, but 

 decidedly larger, this particularly evident in the bill and tail. 



Description. — Type, adult male. No. 55749, U.S.N.M.; Conchitas, 

 Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic, September. 1868; William H. 

 Hudson. — Above and below glossy black, this including both wings 

 and tail, with the exception of a chestnut humeral patch. 



Although in color not different from t3'pical /. p)yrrhopterus., the 

 birds from Buenos A^-res are so much larger that their subspecific 

 separation seems desirable. The subjoined table of millimeter meas- 

 urements exhibits the difference between the two races. 



' Consp. Avium, I, 1850, p. 432. 



'' Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., XXXIV, 1819, p. 543. 



^Type. 



