POLXOPTILA. 447 



streak of ashy white from the base of the nostrils to the fore corner 

 of the eye. Total length 4-4 inches, culmen 0-5, wing 1-85, 

 tail 2, tarsus 0-7. 

 Hah. Brazil. 



a. (5 ad. sk. Brazil. Sclater Collection. 



b, c. Ad. sk. Brazil. Gould Collection. 



d, e. (S 2 i^d- sk. Bahia ( WucJierer). Salviu-Godmau Coll. 



f, 9- c? ? ad. sk. Bahia. Salvin-Godman Coll. 



h. 2 juv.sk. Qahia. (Wucherer). Sclater Collection. 



i. (S ad. sk. Bahia (Berlepsch). Sclater Collection. 



k. (S ad. sk. Eernambrco ( W. A. Forbes). Sclater Collection. 



5. Polioptila nigriceps. 



Polioptila nigriceps, Baird, Review Amer. B. p. 69 (1864) ; Gray, 

 Hand-l. B. i. p. 237, no. 3443 (1869) ; Laivr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 

 p. 267 (1874); id. Bidl. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 12 (1876); Salv. ^ 

 Gudm. Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, i. p. 52 (1879) ; Tacz. P. Z. S. 

 1880, p. 191 ; Bretoster, Bidl. Nutt. Orn. Club, vi. p. 105 (1881) ; 

 Tacz. Orn. Perou, i. p. 453 (1884). 



Polioptila buffoni (pt.), Tacz. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 223. 



Adult male (La Union, S. Salvador). General colour above delicate 

 blue-grey, with silky white ends to the long feathers of the rump ; 

 wing-coverts like the back ; bastard-wing feathers black, distinctly 

 edged with hoary white; primary-coverts and quills black, edged 

 with bluish grey, the inner secondaries rather broadly with hoary 

 white ; up])er tail-coverts and tail-feathers black, the outer feathers 

 almost entirely white, with a black basal mark on the inner web ; 

 the penultimate feather also white, with a larger basal mark of 

 black ; the third feather black, with a broad white tip and a white 

 margin to the outer web, extending for two thirds of its length from 

 the tip ; crown of head and nape glossy blue-black, including also 

 the lores, eyelid, and upper margin of ear-coverts ; feathers below 

 the eye, cheeks, lower half of ear-coverts, and under surface of body 

 white, with a shade of ashy grey on the breast and sides of the 

 body and thighs ; under taU-coverts white ; under wing-coverts and 

 axiilaries white, with a slight shade of ashy ; quills dusky blackish 

 below, white along the edge of the inner web. Total length 4"3 

 inches, culmen 0*5, wing 2, tail 1'9, tarsus 0'7. 



The difference between P. niijriceps from S. Salvador and so-called 

 P. buffoni from Colombia is so minute that Messrs. Salvin and Godman 

 are undoubtedly right in uniting them specifically, for it consists 

 only in the slightly larger amount of black on the inner web of the 

 outer tail-feather, which is somewhat more developed in Colombian 

 than in Mexican birds. For the ingenious way in which these 

 authors attempt to account for the present separation of the two 

 colonies of P. ni(iriceps., the reader is referred to their ' Biologia ' 

 (Aves, i. p. 53), though the explanation there afforded does not 

 satisfy Mr. Brewster (Bull. jS'utt. Orn. Club, vi. p. 105). The series 

 examined by me seems to bear out the conclusions of Messrs. Salvin 



