72 BANGS TWO SAN MIGUEL BIRDS [ P v^j E jfj C " 



Characters. — ■ Size of F. intermedia Cab., with rather stouter bill. Color 

 of back much darker; top of head dark grayish brown, contrasting with color 

 of back ; the black band down centre of belly wider, leaving space occupied 

 by the long plume-like white feathers of the sides narrower. 



Color. — Adult male (female unknown): pileum mouse gray, the centres of 

 the feathers darker — showing as indistinct lines; a broad white superciliary 

 stripe; back and rump dark broccoli brown; wings black, conspicuously 

 marked with white at ends of lesser, middle and greater coverts, the ends of 

 primaries, secondaries and tertials gradually becoming brownish ; tail black, 

 the feathers tipped with white, shorter ones much so, longer ones less ; throat, 

 chest, sides of head and middle of belly, to and including under tail coverts, 

 black ; a narrow area along sides occupied by long, silky, plume-like, white 

 feathers; feet and bill black. 



measurements (in millimeters). 



Exposed 

 Tarsus culmen 



22. 14.8 



21. 14.4 



Remarks. — The type locality of true Formicivora ititermedia 

 Cab. is Colombia, Cabanis saying his museum had specimens 

 from Cartagena and also from the Valley of Aragua in Venezuela. 1 

 All specimens from northern Colombia — Santa Marta to the Bo- 

 gota region — are similar. They are small (wing of adult male 

 about 55 mm.) and pale above; the color of the back is drab, and 

 the head is not darker and not grayish. 



The bird of Tobago has lately been separated as F. tobagoensis 

 Delmas (Me'm. Soc. Zool. France, XIII, p. 141, 1900). It is a 

 large, dark-colored form (wing in adult male about 60 mm.). 

 Specimens from the coast of Venezuela — -Margarita Island and 

 La Guayra — approach it in color, but are smaller, and seem to 

 be intermediate between it and true F intermedia. 



I cannot find any record for the bird from the continent as far 

 north as Panama, and it was therefore a surprise to find a form on 

 San Miguel Island. This island form is easily distinguished from 

 true F. intermedia by its stouter bill, its grayish head and dark 

 coloration, and from F. tobagoensis — which it more nearly re- 

 sembles in color — by much smaller size. 



1 Wicgm. Arch., 1847, pt. 1, p. 225 and following. 



