29. CYANOCOUAX. 



119 



lores, feathers round the eye, cheeks, and ear-coverts black ; fore- 

 head and a faintly defined eyebrow greyish cobalt ; entire throat 

 whitish shaded -ndth purplish blue, with a small spot of black at the 

 base of the chin, the gular patch margined below with a shade of 

 blue-black ; all the rest of the under surface of body smalt-blue, the 

 thighs and under wing-coverts rather more ashy ; bill and legs black. 

 Total length 9-6 inches, culmen 0-95, wing 4-55, tail 4-9, tarsus 

 1-25. 



Hah. Mexico. 

 a. Ad. sk. 



Cordova, Mexico. 



Purchased. 



29. CYANOCORAX*. 



Type. 



Cyanocorax, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 975 C. chrysops. 



Cyanurus, Sicaim. Faun. Bor.-Am. Birds, p. 495 



^(1831) \ C.azureus? 



Coromdeus, Cah. Mus. Hvin. Th. i. p. 224(1850) C. violaceus. 





Head of Cyanocorax chrysofs. 

 Range. Central and South America. 



* Obs. I agree with Messrs. Sclater and Salvin that Cyanurus of Swainson must 

 be considered a synonym of Cyanocorax of Boie ; but I arrive at this conclusion 

 in a totally different manner from that adopted by these authors. Cyanurus was 

 a composite genus, and included ten species, viz.: — 1. crisfatus; 2. stelleri; 

 3. sordidtis ; 4. floridanus ; 5. coronatus; G. cyanopogon ; 7. pileatus ; 8. azureus ■ 

 d.formosus; 10. cristatellus. Of these C. pileatus (\el chrysops) ought not to 

 have been included, as it is the sole type of Boie's genus Cyanocorax (1826). In 

 1841, Mr. G. E. Gray removed C. formomis, as the type of his genus Calocitia; 

 and in 1845 Strickland instituted his genus Cyanocitta, with C. crisfata as its 

 type, but including also Nos. 2, 4, and 5 of Swainson's list. Of these latter 

 C. floridanus as well as C. soi-didus were removed by Cabanis, in 1850, into his 

 genus Aphclocoma ; and therefore in the year 1850 there remained but tliree of 

 Swainson's original Cyanuri, viz. G. cyanQpogon, C. azurcus (vel ccerukua, Vieill.), 

 and C . criifafclhis (vel cyanoleucug, Max.). This last-named bird was chosen bv 

 Cabanis in 1850 as the type of his genus Argurocitta (ex Bp.); and therefore 

 the type of Cyanurus must be either C. cyanopogon or C. azurcus. Both of 

 these birds I keep in the same genus as C. chrysops ; but should the very different 

 form of the crest-feathers ever induce any systematist to separate these two 

 birds generically, it would be better to keep C. azureus as the type of Cyanurus, 

 not only on account of the inapplicabiUty of the name to G. cyanopogon, but 

 on account of the closer relationsliip of the latter to G. ckrywps. 



