Museums of the United States. 309 



have occurred iu the large collections that have of late 

 years been made in Costa Rica, In examining the type I 

 noticed that the colour of the back was irregularly distributed, 

 and appeared due to an abnormal amount of colour in this 

 individual ; and to the same cause I attribute the deep colour 

 of the campterium. Thus viewed, the bird becomes merely 

 an individual variety of A. aurantiirostris, a species exces- 

 sively common in the same districts where the supposed A. 

 rufo dor sails is found. 



Cyanospiza rosit^, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. x. p. 397 (ISr-i) . 



The description given by Mr. Lawrence was communicated 

 to him by M. Sumichrast. Soon after it was in type the 

 specimens reached Washington, where I had the pleasui'C of 

 examining them. The species is a most beautiful one,, and 

 quite distinct from any previously described, being nearest, 

 hoAvever, to C. ciris. M. Sumichrast also sent the female, 

 which, no doubt, Mr. Lawrence will describe in a forthcoming 

 paper on Western Mexican birds. 



Elainea semiflava, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii. p. 177. 



Described from a specimen collected by Mr. Hicks at Chi- 

 riqui, proves, on an examination of the type, to be Capsi- 

 empis flaveola (Liclit.) . We had already received a specimen 

 from the same locality, and included it under the latter name 

 in our ' Nomenclator ' (p. 47) . The species appears to have 

 a very wide range, extending as it does from South-eastern 

 Brazil, through Guiana, to Veragua; but specimens from these 

 distant points present no appreciable differences. 



Empidonax axillaris, Ridgway, N. Am. B. ii. p. 363. 



Mr. Ridgway suggests that this bird may be E. albigularis, 

 Scl. & Salv. (Ibis, 1859, p. 122) ; and I have no doubt that it 

 really belongs there. The Smithsonian type is in a wretched 

 state, the plumage being worn and abraded. E. albigularis 

 is a fairly defined species for this intricate genus. 



As regards E7npidonax brunnescens, Ridgway, N. Am. B. 

 ii. p. 363, from Parana, Mr. Ridgway adds, in the appendix to 

 the third volume, p. 519, that there is a second specimen in 

 the Boston Museum, bearing the name E. olivus, but to which 



