354 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Invariably it selects a perch high up on a dead tree, as in the north, 

 from which lofty position it darts out at intervals after passing in- 

 sects. In addition to the examples secured several were seen at Las 

 Vegas also. 



309. Pyrrhomyias vieillotioides assimilis (Allen) . 



Myiobius vieillotioides (not Tyrannnla vieillotioides Lafresnaye) Salvin and, 

 Godman, Ibis, 1880, 125 (San Sebastian). — Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 XIV, 1888, 202 (San Sebastian). — Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,. 

 XII, 1898, 176 (San Francisco). 



Myiobius assimilis Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 121, 144 

 (Valparaiso [type-locality], El Libano, and Las Nubes ; orig. descr. ; type 

 in coll. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.). — Dubois, Syn. Avium, II, 1903, 1077 (" Santa 

 Marta," in range; ref. orig. descr.). — Brabourne and Chubb, Birds S. Am., 

 I, 1912, 296 (ref. orig. descr.; range). 



Myiobius vieillotioides assimilis Hellmayr and vox Seilern, Arch. f. Naturg., 

 LXXVIII. 1912, 83, in text (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta; crit. ; ref. 

 orig. descr.). 



Additional records : La Concepcion, Santa Cruz, San Miguel, Chi- 

 rua, Palomina (Brown). 



Thirty specimens: Las Nubes. Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Cerro de 

 Caracas, Minca, and San Miguel. 



After a careful comparison of this fine series with our specimens of 

 true vieillotioides from Venezuela it is evident that assimilis should 

 stand as a subspecies of that form, as claimed by Messrs. Hellmayr and 

 von Seilern. All its characters are merely an exaggeration of those of 

 vieillotioides. It is more strongly rufescent throughout, particularly 

 on the wings and tail, where the dusky areas are reduced in extent. 



Oddly enough, specimens collected at such various times as June, 

 August, and November are renewing the remiges and rectrices. 



This form is one of those which are peculiar to the Santa Marta re- 

 gion, the first known specimen having been secured by Simons at San 

 Sebastian in 1879. Mr. Brown took a good series in the Sierra 

 Nevada, but it was not until Mr. Smith sent in his specimens that it was 

 discovered to be distinct from the Venezuelan bird, and duly christened 

 assimilis by Dr. Allen. In the San Lorenzo district it is essentially 

 a bird of the Subtropical Zone, being found between 4,000 and 6,000 

 feet wherever heavy forest is present. There is a record for Minca, 

 however, which would bring it down to about 2,200 feet. In the Sierra 

 Nevada, on the other hand, it ranges upward into the Temperate Zone, 



