410 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Only one bird fully adult, the other showing worn and faded rufous- 

 tipped wing-coverts, which characterize the first nuptial plumage. 

 8. Butorides virescens bahamensis (Brewster). 



Nine specimens: New Providence (Blue Hills); Great Inagua 

 (Alfred Sound, Mathewtown) ; Watlings Island. 



Measurements of Adults. 



No. Sex. Locality. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Culmen. 



30606' c? vix ad. Blue Hills, New Providence 158 53 45 57 



307401 c?' ad. Alfred Sound, Great Inagua.... 167 59 43 58 



30806' c^ ad. Alfred Sound, Great Inagua. . . . 165 59 43 60 



30859' c?' vix ad. Mathewtown, Great Inagua. .. . 169 57 44 61 



30929' 9 ad. Watlings 1 163 59 40 58 



994282 (f ad. Andros 163 58 46 59 



994292 cT vix ad. Andros 148 52 39 52 



994302 9 ad. Andros 164 57 49 57 



8 adult males from eastern U. S., average 179 '65 51 61 



The difference in size between this form and true virescens is evident 

 from the above table, while the color-differences are obvious upon 

 comparison, the Bahaman bird being decidedly paler. Granted that 

 these differences are of subspecific value, the relationship of the present 

 form to the bird of the West Indies and Central America remains to 

 be considered. Mr. Riley has separated the West Indian bird under 

 the name niacidata of Boddaert {Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col- 

 lections, Quarterly Issue, XLVII, 1904, 278), giving as characters the 

 smaller size, more plumbeous crest, and less pronounced and less 

 tawny edgings to the wing-coverts. Messrs. Thayer and Bangs, 

 however, commenting on this statement {Bulletin Museum Com- 

 parative Zoology, XLVI, 1905, 143), find the color-characters unstable, 

 and are furthermore unable to separate Bahaman birds from those 

 from the other West Indian Islands. They adopt the name maculata 

 to cover all specimens from the Bahamas, Greater and Lesser Antilles, 

 Central America, and continental South America, taking size alone 

 as the criterion for separation. But after comparison of considerable 

 material from Central America and Colombia I cannot verify the 

 alleged difference in this respect. Colombian specimens, indeed, aver- 

 age larger if anything, and I should unhesitatingly refer the entire 

 series to true virescens. A series of adults selected at random from 

 several of the more northern West Indian islands seems to differ from 



' Collection Carnegie Museum. 



2 Collection American Museum Natural History. 



