THE GENUS CHOEDEILES SWAINSON OBERHOLSER. 61 



Fort Bridger, Wyoming, June 21, 1858, which have dark, dull, black- 

 ish brown upper parts, with but sparse ochraceous, whitish or dull 

 light brown mottlings, especially on the back, in which respect they 

 are somewhat like ChordeUes virginianus hesperis^ though more 

 brownish, and which have also the breast and jugulum mostly dark 

 brown with some buff or ochraceous buff spots, and the posterior 

 lower parts whitish or pale buff. The other extreme is to be seen in 

 birds like No. 19078, U.S.N.M., adult female, Antelope Hills, 150 

 miles west of Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, June 7, 18G0, and No. 94G93, 

 U.S.N.M., Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 24, 1883, in which the 

 upper parts are, in general effect, very tawny, much as in ChordeUes 

 mrginianus lienryi^ though paler, with the light markings above 

 numerous and all tawny or tawny ochraceous; the throat and jugu- 

 lum are mostly tawny and tawny ochraceous ; and the posterior lower 

 surface deep buff. 



That three well-defined subspecies have hitherto been included 

 under the name ChordeUes virginianus henryi is shown very plainly 

 by the material available for the present investigation. One of these, 

 to which the name ChordeUes virginianus henryi ^ is applicable, is a 

 large, rather dark, very rufescent or tawny bird, and occupies, dur- 

 ing the breeding season, the greater part of New Mexico and Ari- 

 zona ; another, a small, pale, and rather grayish bird, summers chiefly 

 in southern Texas, and to this the name ChordeUes mrginianus 

 aserriensis ^ seems to apply ; while the third is the large, light-colored 

 buffy or ochraceous race, which ranges in summer from Wyoming 

 and Colorado to Kansas and central Texas, and which I have above 

 named ChordeUes virginianus howeUi. 



The geographical area occupied by ChordeUes virginianus howelU 

 lies between the ranges of ChordeUes virginianus hesperis and Chor- 

 deUes virginianus aserriensis^^ on the one hand, and between Chor- 

 deUes virginianus sennetti and Chorxleiles virgimanus henryi, on 

 the other; and it is to a certain degree intermediate also in colors; 

 but notwithstanding this, it presents, characters that are fairly 

 uniform over practically all of its range, except, of course, along 

 the very edges of its distribution, where it passes into the sur- 

 rounding forms of the species; and it is, on the whole, as the sub- 

 species of ChordeUes virginianus go, a readily recognizable race. 

 Birds from Fort Hays and Cairo, in middle Kansas, are not dif- 

 ferent from those of Colorado and southern Wyoming; and those 

 from the southern part of Colorado, in the Rio Grande Valley, 

 seem to be just like those from other parts of the same State — 



1 ChordeUes henryi Cassin, Illustr. Birds Cal., Texas, Ore., Brit, and Russ. Amer., vol. 1, 

 1855, p. 239 (Fort Webster, N. Mtx.). 



2 Cherrie, Auk, vol. 13, April, 1896, p. 136. See also p. 73. 



