134 FRINGILLLD-E. 



across ; -wing-coverts like the back ; quills black, the inner primaries 

 white at the base of the outer web, forming an alar speculum ; 

 upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers black ; crown of head, lores, 

 sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, fore neck, and chest black ; 

 sides of neck with a white crescentic patch ; breast and abdomen 

 white ; sides of body and flanks black, tipped with white ; thighs 

 black, internally white ; under tail-coverts white, the longer ones 

 with black bases : under wing-coverts and axillaries white, with a 

 black patch near the edge of the wing ; quills below black, edged 

 with ashy, white towards the base of the inner web. Total length 

 4-1 inches, culmen 0-4, wing 2-15, tail 1-75, tarsus 0-55. 



In some males the white spot on each side of the neck is con- 

 nected by a white band across the lower throat, and the base of the 

 chin is white : the lower back and rump are also white, forming a 

 broad band. Between this and the form described there is every 

 intermediate link in the Salvin-Godman collection — as, for instance, 

 a male with a white throat-band and the rump black ; another 

 with the rump white and the entire throat black, with scarcely any 

 si^n of the white neck-patch ; another with a white band on the 

 throat, the neck-patch obsolete, and the rump marked by a few 

 white-tipped feathers. How these variations have been brought 

 about, whether by hybridization or not, it is impossible to deter- 

 mine ; but I quite agree with Messrs. Salvin and Godman that only 

 one species can be recognized. 



In the seasonal plumage the whole of the upper surface is brown, 

 with which colour the feathers are broadly tipped ; the white rump 

 is overshaded with ochreous buff, and the white tips to the wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries are also tinged with ochreous buff; 

 the white on the sides of the neck and the whole of the breast and 

 abdomen are entirely obscured by brownish ochre, and the black 

 band on the chest is shaded over with ochreous tips to the feathers. 

 With the shedding of the ochreous tips to the feathers, the buff tinge 

 on the white parts disappears, and these parts gradually become 

 pure white. 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 olive-brown ; lesser wing-coverts like the back : median and greater 

 coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dull brown, edged 

 with olive ; upper tail-coverts like the back ; tail-feathers brown, 

 edged with olive ; crown of head like the back : lores pale olive, as 

 also the feathers round and below the eye ; ear-coverts pale brown 

 washed with olive ; cheeks and under surface of body pale olive-buff, 

 lighter on the abdomen, which is yellowish white ; sides of body 

 and flanks oh ve-brown ; thighs and under tail-coverts olive-buff; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries dull whitish, washed with 

 olive-yellow ; quills below dusky, edged with ashy along the inner 

 web. Total length 3-7 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2, tail 1*65, 

 tarsus 055. 



Hab. Central America, from Guatemala and Costa Rica to 

 Panama. 



