PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATI^^NAL MUSEU;M. 103 



account, is all that is known regarding it. The specimen in the Smith- 

 sonian collection alluded to by Mr. Lawrence has unfortunately been 

 mislaid, so that I am unable to nmke a direct comparison. 



Swainson's descrii)tiou is as follows: — 



" Front of the head, cheeks, and chin golden yellow ; ears, and con- 

 nected stripes over the ej'es, cinereous white; nape, middle of the 

 crown, and the belly, crimson; rump, pure white. 



" Inhabits ? Mus. Nost. 



"This most elegant species is the smallest Centurus I have yet seen. 

 Total length, 7^^^ inches; bill, gape 1; front, y^„; wings, 4:-j\, nearly as 

 long as the tail, which from the base is 3; tarsus, j'\j-. Upper plumage, 

 as in the last, banded with black and white; the latter being narrower 

 than the former; the broad grayish-white band over each eye unites in 

 front, and there becomes white, so as to separate the golden yellow 

 round the bill from the crimson of the crown ; the yellow covers all the 

 face before the eye, and passes round the chin; the under plumage is 

 light cinereous gray, the middle of the body and belly being tinged 

 with crimson; the tail-feathers are black and unspotted, except the base 

 of the middle pair and a few spots and obsolete bands on the outer- 

 most; bill deep black." 



With regard to a specimen from Yucatan, supposed to be the same as 

 Swainson's bird, Mr. Lawrence {I. c.) writes as follows : — 



" A single male specimen agrees closely with Swainson's description ; 

 its validity, as a species, has been doubted by many writers, and gener- 

 ally referred to C. tricolor, though admitted to be distinct by Malherbe, 

 and accurately figured and described in his splendid Mon. of the Picida\ 

 It seems to be very rare, as Malherbe states that besides Swainson's 

 examjde he only knows of the male in his own collection. With spec- 

 imens before me of C. tricolor from Bogota, St. Martha and Panama, 

 the distinctness of the two species does not admit of a question. As 

 stated by Malherbe, the bands on the upi^er plumage of tricolor arc 

 twice the width of those of rubriventris ; in the last species the trans- 

 verse white lines on the back are similar to those of C. albifronft, while 

 in tricolor they are much as in C. aurifrons ; another marked difference 

 is in the central tail leathers ; those of tricolor are deeply and broadly 

 indented with white on both webs, whereas in the example of rubriven- 

 tris these feathers are black, except for a small space at the base on the 

 outer web, where it is white, this color extending higher up next the 

 shaft. In size and general coloring the two species are much alike. 



" The acquisition of this specimen is of much iutere^, as it helps to 

 set at rest any doubt of its claim as a distinct si)ecies, and determines 

 its locality heretofore unknown, though sujjposed to be some part of 

 Mexico." 



