1895. 



PROCEEDiyOS OF THE XATWXAL MCSEUM. 667 



is red, paler tbau the crown, autl se])arate{l from it. In some speci- 

 mens, as in tlie Margarita example in worn plumage, this red naj^e is 

 considerably worn and faded, and has a distinct golden line, with only 

 a slight tint of red remaining. Oonld m^t Bonaparte have based his 

 description on a similar specimen? At any rate, red or yellow, the 

 nape is never as broad or brilliant as in ele(jans. 



Here is Bonai)arte"s second description, the words in brackets being 

 those uot fonnd in the original one: 



[Mbiof], alho-nigroqucfasclatiis; subtiis, cum capile, dilute cinerascnis: vertice labdom- 

 inisque medio} rahria: fronle ct cervice siihanratin: [macula oculari nitjra ?(«//«]. 



The words "minor'' and "macnla oculari nigra nulla'' are compara- 

 tive with C. eleiiaiiH immediately i)receding this description ; the ''abdom- 

 inis(pie medio" [rubris] refers to the color of the abdomen, lacking iu 

 the original description. Now this does not refir to M. aurifrons, and 

 the objection to Bonaparte's name appears to rest on tliis point. 



The specific name tricolor has very commonly been used to designate 

 the birds ranging from the Isthmus through Colombia and Venezuela. 

 This name was first used by Gmelin, whose Ficus tricolor, said to inhabit 

 Mexico, is considered unrecognizable. Later, Wagler described iu 

 detail a bird in the Berlin Museum as Picm tricolor,^ thought to be from 

 Mexico, but since shown by Cabanis to have come from Cartagena, 

 Colombia. 



Recently Salviii and Godman ' have very properly discarded the name 

 tricolor of Wagler for the bird inhabiting the Isthmus and ai)plied a 

 new name, icagleri, in its stead. Von Berlepsch described Centurm ter- 

 ricolor"^ from the "Orinoco district or Trinidad" some years ago, and 

 compared his bird with Bogota specimens, which were thought to be 

 tricolor. The former was said to differ from tricolor in being larger, 

 with longer bdl, darker on head and under parts, and in barred upper 

 tail coverts. Now, if Orinoco or Venezuelan examples are compared 

 with Panama specimens, which are the same as the Cartagena form, we 

 shall have to describe them as smaller instead of larger than '^ tricolor^'! 

 In other words, we have three forms— one, u-a(jleri, from Ohiriqui, 

 Panama, and along the coast of Colombia; second, a smaller form in 

 Venezuela, including Tobago, the Orinoco region, and probably Trini- 

 dad; and finally a still smaller form from Bogota, which appears to be 

 unnamed, and may be called neglectn.s. Tlie second form mentioned is 

 the one called terricolor by Von Berlepsch, but is really the .suhcle<jans 

 of Bonaparte, and this latter name should be emph>yed in its place. 



The characters given in the books to separate u-a(jlcri from sHbeleijans 

 are not very satisfactory. I can not find any difference in the color of 

 the under parts (but should state that 1 have seen no males oi neglect us), 

 and the barring of the upper tail-coverts and rump are very uncertain 

 and occur in both forms more or less. There is a difiereuce iu size. 



1 Isis, 1829, 512. 



2Biol. Cent. Am., Aves, II, 1895, 416. 



3 Ibis, 1880, 113. 



