POLIOPTILA. 443 



Merrin, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 120 (1878); Coues, B. Color. 



Vail. p. 101 (1878) ; Salvin ^ Godm. Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. 



p. 60 (1879); Ridqic. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 21, p. 12 (1881) ; 



Coties, Check-lid N. Amer. B. p. 27 (1882) ; Salvin, Cat. StricU. Coll. 



p. 61 (1882) ; Coues, Keij N. Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 261 (1884). 

 PolioptOa, sp., Sol. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 298. 

 Polioptila mexicana, Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, pp. 363, 373 ; id. ^ Salv. Ibis, 



1859, p. 9 ; Scl. Cat. Amm: B. p. 12 (1862) ; id. P. Z. S. 1862, 



p. 18 ; Salvin, Bis, 1866, p. 202 ; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p 237, 



no. 3439 (1869). 



Adult male. General colour above clear greyish blue, the sides 

 of the rump with long silky greyish-whito plumes ; wing-coverts, 

 bastard-wing, and primary-coverts dusky brown, with greyish-blue 

 edges ; quills dusky, narrowly margined with hoary grey, broader 

 and more conspicuous on the inner secondaries ; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail-feathers black, the third outer feather white at the tip, the 

 penultimate one with an oblique black mark extending across the 

 base of the outer web, and obliquely for more than half of the inner 

 web ; the outside tail-feather nearly entirely white, with only a 

 small oblique mark of blackish near the base ; the shafts black, both 

 of the external and penultimate feathers ; crown of head clear 

 greyish blue, brighter than the back, with a black line extending 

 across the base of the forehead and backwards above the eye ; imme- 

 diately above the latter a narrow line of blue-grey ; lores, feathers 

 below the eye, and ear-coverts delicate greyish blue ; round the eye 

 a ring of white ; entire under surface of body delicate ashy grey, 

 whiter on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; sides of body rather 

 more leaden grey ; thighs white anteriorly, ashy' posteriori}' ; axil- 

 laries and under wing-coverts delicate ashy grey, the latter mottled 

 with dusky bases near the edge of the wing ; quills dusky brown 

 below, ashy white along the edge of the inner web : " bill bluish 

 black; feet greyish blue; iris hazel" {Audubon). Total length 

 4"5 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2*1, tail 2, tarsus G-Go. 



Adult female. Like the male, but duller and more greyish blue 

 above ; the head like the back, and without any black ; bill usually 

 light- coloured in part {Coues). " The extent of white on the tail 

 varies somewhat, but I have seen no eastern specimens in which the 

 outer feather was not white in all its extent, and was not covered 

 by the under tail-coverts. In some Arizona examples, however, the 

 black which usually exists at the base extends beyond the coverts, 

 and in fact there is little more white on this feather than there is 

 in P. plumhea, though the black of the frontlet is intact." ( Coues.) 



Hah. United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; north to the 

 Connecticut Valley and Yreka, Cal. Breeds throughout its United- 

 States range, wintering on the southern United- States border and 

 southward {Coues) ; also in Central America, from Mexico to Guate- 

 mala ; Cuba ; Bahamas. 



fl. [ c? ] ad. sk. North America (Sf//)- Sclater Collection. 



6. c? ad. sk. Park Woods, D.C, Salvin-Godmau CoU. 



April 23 (^. Cones). 



