3g NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



A. Crown plain rufous ; interscapulars without distinct black centres, and 

 tertials without whitish border. Blackish " bridle " conspicuous. Bend of 

 wing edged with white. 



1. P. ruficeps. 



Above olivaceous-ash, interscapulars with broad streaks of dull 

 rufous, the shafts scarcely blackish. Crown bright rufous. Wing, 

 2.40; tail, 2.70; bill, .29 from forehead, .20 deep; tarsus, .70; 

 middle toe without claw, .5.5. Hah. California (and Mexico in 

 winter?) . . . . . . . ." . var. riificeps. 



Darker, above brownish-plumbeous, dorsal streaks scarcely rufous, 

 and with distinctly black shaft-streaks ; crown darker rufous. 

 "Wing, 2.40 ; tail, 2.60 ; bill, .34 and .25 ; tarsus, .77 ; middle toe, 

 .57. Hah. Mexico (Orizaba; Oaxaca), in summer . var. houcardi.^ 



B. Crown streaked ; interscapulars with distinct black centres ; tertials 

 sharply bordered terminally with paler. " Bridle " obsolete ; bend of wing 

 edged with yellowish. 



2. P. aestivalis. Above uniformly marked with broad streaks or lon- 

 gitudinal blotches of deep rufous ; black streaks confined to interscapu- 

 lars and crown. Tail-feathers without darker shaft-stripe, and without 

 indications of darker bars; the outer feathers without distinct white. 

 Black marks on upper tail-coverts inconspicuous, longitudinal. 



The bluish-ash, and chestnut-rufous streaks above sharply con- 

 trasted ; black dorsal streaks broad. Wing, 2.45 ; tail, 2.65 ; bill, 

 .30 and .30 ; tarsus, .73 ; middle toe, .60. Hah. Southern States 

 from Florida and Georgia to Southern Illinois . . var. ccstiv alia. 



The dull ash and light rufous streaks above not sharply defined ; 

 black dorsal streaks narrow. Wing, 2.65; tail, 3.00; bill, .32 and 

 .25 ; tarsus, .80 ; middle toe, .63. Hah. Southern border of the 

 Arizona region of Middle Province of United States . .var. arizoncp.. 



Markings badly defined as in the last, but the rufous streaks 

 darker (in summer plumage almost entirely black), with more black 

 on the crown. Wing, 2.55 ; tail, 2.65 ; bill, .32 and .25 ; tarsus, 

 .80; middle toe, .60. Hah. Mexico (Orizaba; Mirador, Colima). 



var. hotterii.- 



3. P. cassini. Above marked everywhere with broad short streaks of 

 pale (not reddish) brown streaks, all black medially. Tail-feathers with 



1 Zonotrichia boucardi, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1867, 1, pi. i, La Piiebla, Mex. (scarcely definable 

 as distinct from ruficeps). 



2 Peuccea botterii, Sclater, Cat. Am. B. 1862, 116 {Zonotrichia b. P. Z. S. 1857, 214), Ori- 

 zaba. Coturniculus mexicana, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lye. VIII, 1867, 474 (Colima). 



This form can scarcely be defined separately from cestivalis. The type of C. inexicanus, 

 Lawr., is nn distinguishable from Orizaba specimens. A specimen in the worn summer plumage 

 (44,7529, jMirador, July) diff'ers in having the streaks above almost wholly black, with scarcely 

 any rufous edge ; the crown is almost uniformly blackish. The feathers are very much worn, 

 however, and the specimen is without doubt referrible to botteri. 



The Peuccea notosticta of Sclater (P. Z. S. 1868, 322) we have not seen ; it appears to differ 

 in some important respects from the forms diagnosed above, and may, possibly, be a good species. 

 Its place in our system appears to be with section "A," but it diff'ers from ruficeps and boucardi 

 in the median stripe on the crown, and the black streaks in the rufous of the lateral portion, 

 the blacker streaks of the dorsal region, and some other less important points of coloration. The 

 size appears to be larger than in any of the forms given in our synopsis (whig, 2.70 ; tail, 3.00). 

 Hab. States of Puebla and Mexico, Mex. 



