BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 365 



narrower; iris dark broAvn; cere and tarsi yellow; bill and claws dark 

 blue-black. 



Adult female. — Similar to the male but averaging darker above and 

 below, and larger in size. 



Juvenal (sexes alike). — Similar to that of B^iteo nitidus plagiatus, but 

 averaging smaller, and darker, the dark tail bars broader (12-20 mm. 

 as against 6-15 mm. in B. n. plagiatus) ; bill black, bluish at extreme 

 base; cere and edge of gape greenish yellow; uis brown; tarsi and toes 

 wax yellow. 



Natal down. — Not known. 



Adult male.— Wing 231-264 (240.7); tail 149-178 (157.7); culmen 

 from cere 20-23 (21) ; tarsus 64-71 (68) ; middle toe without claw 32-36 

 (34. S mm.).^" 



Adult female.— Wing 257-270 (265.1); tail 170-182 (174.2); culmen 

 from cere 22-25 (22.9); tarsus 68-74 (72); middle toe without claw 

 37-42 (39.7 mm.).^^ 



Range. — Resident in the arid tropical zone from northern Gua- 

 temala and southern British Honduras, south through Guatemala 

 (Finca Carolina, Finca El Cipres, Finca El Espina, Puebla, Hacienda 

 California, San Lucas, Constancia, Chimalapa, San Geronimo, 

 Escuintla, Savana Grande, Retalhuleu; Honduras chiefly in the 

 western part, not on the Caribbean slope beyond Tela (Comayagua, 

 Tigre Island, Ruatan Island, Lancetilla, San Pedro, Lake Yojoa, 

 Urraca, Camayaquela, La Cumbre, Tela, Progresso); western Nica- 

 ragua (Chinandega, San Juan del Sur, Corinto, Matagalpa, Metapa) ; 

 Salvador (Sitio del Nino, Lake Olomega, Volcan de San Miguel, Rio 

 San Aliguel, El Tabl6n, Hacienda Chanmico, Sansonata, Acajaitta, 

 Divisadero, Colima, Lake Chamnico, Hacienda Zapotitdn, Lake Guija, 

 San Salvador, San Sebastidn, Barro de Santiago, Puerto del Triumfo), 

 and northwestern Costa Rica as far south as the Gulf of Nicoya (La 

 Palrna de Nicoya, Gulf of Nicoya, San Mateo) .^^ 



Type locality. — Four miles east of Chinandega, Nicaragua. 



Asturina nitida (not Falco nitidus Latham, 1790) Sclater and Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 

 217 (Guatemala, food). — Owen, Ibis, 1861, 68 (San Ger6nimo, Guatemala; 

 descr. nest and eggs). — Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist, New York, ix, 

 1868, 133 (Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica); ix, 1869, 147 (Costa Rica; crit.).— 

 Frantzius, Journ. fur Orn., 1869, 369 (Costa Rica). 



'"^ Twenty-five specimens from Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and 

 Costa Rica. 



'1 Twenty-one specimens from Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and 

 Costa Rica. 



^2 Birds from British Honduras and Guatemala are somewhat intermediate 

 between true micrus and -plagiatus, but are nearer the former; birds from extreme 

 southern Mexico (Chiapas, Campeche) are also intermediate, but are closer to 

 plagiatus. 



