530 NOTES ON COSTA KICAN BIRDS CHERRIE. 



dusky, as in the female. Below the throat is black, while there are 

 scattering black feathers over the ashy and ochraceous-buflfy of the 

 remainiag lower parts. 



Euphonia gracilis. 



Four female examples of a Uuphonia, collected in Pozo Azul (Pirris), 

 Costa Kica, in December, 1888, by Mr. J. C. Zeledon, and labeled by 

 that gentleman Uuphonia gracilis, may be described as follows : Above 

 olive-green with a strong bronzy-green sheen, more yellowish and less 

 bronzj' on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; forehead and front part 

 of crown rufous-chestnut ; wings and tail blackish, with yellowish olive 

 edges. Below greenish olive, yellowish on chin and throat; center of 

 breast and belly tawny ochraceous, under tail-coverts yellowish orange- 

 ochraceous, axillaries yellow. 



This description differs markedly from any hitherto published, and I 

 hesitated long before giving it. But in examining a number of young 

 male birds (with only a little j'ellow on the forehead) that appeared to 

 belong to either gracilis or luteicapilla, I endeavored to find a character 

 that would separate the species at all ages. In examining the speci- 

 mens 1 noted that in gracilis the duskj' or black at the bases of the 

 yellow feathers of tlie crown always extends farther along the shaft of 

 the feather than along the web, making a V-shaped union between the 

 yellow tip and darker ba^e. This is most marked on the feathers 

 farthest back on the crown, but is noticeable even on those on the ex- 

 treme forehead. In luteicapilla the yellow tip joins the dusky base in a 

 straight line across the feather. Usually, also, the yellow in gracilis is 

 paler, confined more to the extreme tip of the feather, and the dusky 

 base is blacker. This being noted,.! found that all the young speci- 

 mens pertained to luteicapilla. Then came Mr. Zeledon's specimens 

 labeled gracilis. An examination of so-called females of gracilis and 

 luteicapilla, and of published descriptions, seemed to point to their 

 being indeterminable one from the other. It might here also be ob- 

 served that in gracilis the bill is heavier and the gonys decidedly more 

 convex than in luteicapilla. 



The Zeledon birds, or female gracilis, are very distinct from U. gouldi; 

 and while there is rather a close color resemblance to the females of 

 fulvicrissa, the size is much greater, being equal to the males of gra- 

 cilis. Males of gracilis, compared with those of fulvicrissa, are seen to 

 have the same style of crown (the V-shaped union between the black 

 base and yellow tip). All males of fulvicrissa examined have a white 

 spot on the inner web of the outer tail-feathers, sometimes well defined 

 and again only faintly indicated. Four out of the six males of gracilis 

 have the white mark on the outer tail-feather. 



I do not know what Mr. Zeledon's reasons were for identifying his 

 specimens as gracilis, but he gave special attention to the Euphoniw, 

 and took both male and female in the same locality and at the same time. 



