204 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



DESC'ItlPTIOIV OF A NEW SUB-SPFCIES OF liOXICifflrliA FROM TIIE 



ISIiAIVO OF ST. CIIRIH'rOPSIFR, WIi:ST SNDIFS. 



By OEOR^E N. LA^WKEWCE. 



Loxigilla portoricensis var. grandis. 



Male. — The general plumage is of a deep lustrous Mack, witli tlie top 

 and sides of tlie crown, the throat and under tail-coverts deep bright 

 rufous ; the under wing-coverts are white j the bill and feet are black. 



Length (skin), 8| inches; wing, 4; tail, 3j^; tarsus, 1. 



As the plumage of the female is similar to that of the male, it seemed 

 so different from the recorded olive-colored plumage of the females of 

 all others of the genus, that I wrote to Mr. Ober, asking if he was con- 

 fident that the sexes were rightly determined 5 he rej)lied that he was. 

 I thought this marked difference in the coloring of the female would 

 entitle it to full specific distinction. 



In his work on the Birds of Porto Eico, Dr. Gundlach describes the 

 female of L. portoricensis as being olive-colored. Therefore I wrote to 

 him stating the close resemblaiice between the males of the birds from 

 Porto Eico and St. Kitts, and called his attention to the fact that in 

 the latter island the female resembled the male in plumage. He an- 

 swered that he had just received a letter from his correspondent in 

 Porto Eico, Dr. Stahl, who informed him that the female of L. porto- 

 ricensis was like the male. 



Length of 9 , 8 inches ; wing, 3f ; tail, 3^ ; tarsus, 1. 



Types in the ifational Museum, Washington. 



In the collection from Mr. Ober were nine specimens, one only in tne 

 olive-colored i)lumage, which was marked as a male. The collection 

 also contained specimens of LoxigiUa noctis. 



Bemarls.— The above-described bird in distribution of colors closely 

 resembles L. portoricensis; the only noticeable difference is, that in the 

 Porto Eico species the under wing-coverts are white, lightly marked 

 with rufous. It is, however, larger, the bills as a rule markedly so, but 

 in the only si>ecimen in my collection from Porto Eico the bill is as large 

 as that of the female from St. Kitts chosen as the type 5 but that of the 

 male is larger. 



In quite a large series of L. portoricensis belonging to the Smithsonian 

 Institution, the bills average much smaller. Many of these are in the 

 olive-colored plumage, but all are without distinction of sex. 



Probably in the two forms from Porto Eico and St. Kitts, all the 

 olive-colored birds are the young of both sexes. 



Mr. P. A. Ober visited St. Christopher on his second expedition to 

 the West Indies in 1880, but the time spent there was too limited to 



