562 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.89 



MELANOTIS HYPOLEUCUS Hartlaub 



Melanotis hypoleucus Hartlaub, Rev. Mag. Zool., ser. 2, vol. 4, Oct. 1852, p. 460 

 (Guatemala). 



On October 30 at 7,600 feet above Canderas on the slopes of Volcan 

 cle Acatenango I shot a dark-colored bird of thrasher form as it moved 

 among branches in dense brush and was much surprised to find the 

 white breast of this species when I picked it up. On November 1 at 

 6,500 feet above Dueiias on the same mountain I saw two or three slip- 

 ping like shadows through damp, somber undergrowth and secured 

 another. Others were taken and seen on November 13, and 14 in 

 thickets about Panajachel. Here I identified the song, in tone and 

 form suggestive of the brown thrasher {Toxostoma rufum), but with 

 occasional thrushlike calls. Many of the notes were in couplets of 

 typical thrasher type, but they were not given regularly, there being 

 many pauses and changes in time. The effort was pleasing and one 

 that I enjoyed. 



The somewhat extraordinary suggestion of Hellmayr ^° that this 

 white-breasted bird should be rated as a geographic race of Melanotis 

 caendescens, which has the whole breast dull slaty blue, because of cer- 

 tain specimens of 31. c. longirostris recorded by Nelson from the Tres 

 Marias Islands is wholly without basis. The specimens in question are 

 in the National Museum, and I find that all are albinistic. One with 

 a white breast, being the one that suggests M. hypoleucus., has also 

 much white on the lower back, rump, and elsewhere, and two others, 

 which are normal in dark color below, have the ends of the primaries 

 l^artly white. Obviously these are merely aberrant specimens and 

 have no bearing in linking two species that are quite distinct. 



There is in the National Museum a specimen taken by E. W. Nelson 

 and E. A. Goldman on April 3, 1904, at Comittin, Chiapas, apparently 

 the first record for the species from Mexico. 



Family TURDIDAE 



TURDUS MIGRATORIUS Linnaeus 



Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 292 ( South 

 Carolina). 



Migrant robins from the north were observed on November 3 near 

 Duefias, when a dozen passed high overhead, and on November 23 at 

 10,000 feet near Sierra Santa Elena, when I recorded two, also in flight. 



9" Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 13, pt. 7, 1934, p. 304. 



