90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol 74 



(six specimens) : Wing, 48-54 (51) ; tail, 52-57 (54) ; bill, 9.5-10.5 

 (10); tarsus, 20-21 (20.5). 



Range. — Southeastern Mexico, from southern Vera Cruz south- 

 ward through Tabasco and Chiapas to Vera Paz, Guatemala. 



Retnarks. — Sclater's 1861 record of BasUeuterus " delattrii " from 

 Mexico must have been based on an example of this well-marked race, 

 since delattrii does not range into that country. Baird in 1865, with 

 a single example from Coban, Vera Paz, Guatemala, before him, 

 again misidentified it with B. delattrii. Salvin and Godman, writ- 

 ing in 1881, placed their entire series from Guatemala under the 

 same form, but were confused over certain discrepancies in colora- 

 tion, which they were inclined to ascribe to differences in age. In 

 1885, however, we find Sharpe dividing the Guatemalan series be- 

 tween B. delattrii and " 5." ruflfrons., one specimen from Coban fall- 

 ing with the former and two others from the same place with the 

 latter. In 1892 Mr. Cherrie called attention to the peculiarities of 

 the single Guatemalan specimen examined by him (also from Coban, 

 and the same one that Baird had handled), which he thereupon pro- 

 ceeded to describe as a new species, " ^." salvini. The same year 

 Salvin and Godman again returned to the question, and indorsed Mr. 

 Cherrie's views as to the validity of salvini., the range of which they 

 extended to Tabasco, Mexico. Again in 1897 Mr. Nelson undertook 

 to separate the bird of this latter region under the name flavigaster, 

 his type coming from Yajalon, Chiapas. He compared his new form 

 directly with " 5." rufifrons, without referring to salvini. Mr. Ridg- 

 way, with the types of salvini and -flavigaster before him in 1902, 

 called attention to their close resemblance, while admitting both 

 alleged forms to recognition as races of " 5." rufifrons. He was 

 puzzled by the occurrence in Guatemala of birds representing both 

 types, and thought that salvini might represent the resident race, 

 and the other a migrant race. 



With all the material before me that Mr. Ridgway had (which by 

 itself was admittedly inconclusive), and much more, my findings are 

 that there are only two forms of the ruf^frons type in Guatemala, 

 salvini and another which for the present I refer to true rufifrons. 

 Through the courtesy of the authorities of the British Museum 

 (Natural History) I have been permitted to examine two additional 

 specimens in their collection from Coban, the type locality of salvini. 

 (One of these is listed under B. delattni in the " Catalogue of Birds," 

 as already noted.) These specimens fail to bear out the supposed 

 distinctive characters of salvini as compared with jiavigaster. They 

 agree sufficiently well with Mexican specimens of the latter, and with 

 a series of nine specimens in the collection of Dr. Jonathan Dwight 

 from Finca Sepecuite and Secanquim, situated in the region between 



