2 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



ways on almost inaccessible mountain sides. * * * From observing the 

 actions of the bird I killed, I am sure its mate was in the vicinity, and probably 

 nesting, although I have since carefully searched the place without success. 

 This species will doubtless be found breeding in Arizona. 



My attention has recently been called to several sight records of 

 what was apparently this subspecies, made by L. Irby Davis near 

 Harlingen, Tex., in the lower Rio Grande Valley. On numerous occa- 

 sions the bird was examined carefully through powerful binoculars, 

 often at short range, by Mr. Davis and several other observers, so that 

 there seems to be little doubt about the identification of the subspecies, 

 as it was clearly seen to have a white breast. The typical rose- 

 throated becard {Platypsaris aglaiae aglaiae), the form we should 

 naturally expect to see there, has a grai/ breast. Mr. Davis has sent 

 me a very full account of his various experiences with it, which is 

 most convincing. He first saw, on October 18, 1937, an adult female and 

 a young male of this species, which at first he was at loss to identify. 

 The female soon disappeared and was never seen again. The young 

 male was found again in March 1938 in the same locality, and in an- 

 other locality, heavy hackberry woods about a quarter of a mile away, 

 on April 27, 1938. Here he saw it, sometimes within 10 feet and 

 at all angles, on May 1, 8, 15, and 28, June 6, November 19, and 

 December 4, 1938. 



In explanation of this strange occurrence, he writes to me: "My 

 theory of the becard record is that an adult female, accompanied by 

 a very young male, came into this area in the fall of 1937 from the 

 west. This is a regular migration route for far western birds, as 

 a number of mountain species regularly winter here — for example, the 

 Sierra hermit thrush. I believe that the adult moved on to the south 

 shortly, and the juvenile who was left here took up permanent resi- 

 dence. Since no females came back here in the spring, no breeding 

 records have been made." This seems to be a plausible theory, as 

 the eastern boundary of Nuevo Leon, where albiventris has been 

 known to occur, is only 65 miles west of Harlingen ; a wandering mi- 

 grant might easily cover that short distance. I believe Mr. Davis 

 has not seen the bird since. 



William Beebe (1905) thus describes his meeting with this species 

 in the lowlands of Colima, Mexico : 



One day while walking quietly through a dense part of the jungle, where 

 tall, thick-leaved trees shut out the light and hence caused an absence of 

 thick undergrowth, I saw a bird fly from a perch, catch an insect in mid-air 

 and dart back. I had not found any flycatchers heretofore in this thickly 

 wooded section, and, though my heart sank when I saw its back and wings of 

 the usual indefinite flycatcher-hues of light gray, and knew that exact identifi- 

 cation without a gun would be next to impossible, I approached the bird. It 

 again fiew into the air and again returned to its favourite twig, this time 



