108 ALBATROSS EXPLORATIONS, BIRDS — RIDGWAY. 



17. Cactomis scandeus Gould. 



Charles Island, four specimens; Indefatigable Island, six specimens. 



18. Cactornis abingdoni Salv. 

 Abingdon Island, four specimens. 



I am very doubtful whether the distinctness of this bird from G. 

 scandens can be maintained. The two adult males have the same uni- 

 form black plumage as those of G, scandens, while of the five adult males 

 of the latter (three from Indefatigable and two from Charles Islands), 

 three have the bill entirely black, the other two having merely a blotch 

 of paler color on the under side of the lower mandible (barely percepti- 

 ble in one of them). The specimens from Abingdon Island have the 

 bill slightly larger than those from the other islands above mentioned, 

 but the difference in this respect between them and the specimens from 

 Iudefatigable Island is not greater than between the latter and those 

 from Charles Island. In short, if the uniform black specimens from 

 Charles and Indefatigable Islands are true G. scandens, I should unhesi- 

 tatingly consider C. abingdoni a synonym of that species. The U. S. 

 National Museum does not, however, possess a specimen from James 

 Island, the original locality of G. scandens, and I am therefore unable to 

 form a more definite opinion on the subject. 



19. Cactornis brevirostris sp. nov. 



Sp. Char. — Similar to G. scandens in color, but bill very different in 

 form, being much shorter and deeper, and with decidedly arched cul- 

 men. 



Hab. — Chatham Island. 



Fig. 4. — Cactornis brevirostris. 



Immature male (type, No. 115920, Charles Island, Galapagos, April 

 8, 1888; U. S. S. Albatross): Dull sooty blackish, uniform on head, neck, 

 and chest, elsewhere broken by lighter margins to feathers; these edg- 

 ings dull light grayish brown on upper parts, dull brownish white on 

 lower parts; sides and flanks washed with pale brown; under tail-cov- 

 erts dull buffy white, with concealed mesial streaks of dusky. Bill en- 

 tirely black; tarsi deep brown; toes brownish black. Length (skin), 

 4.50; wing, 2.70; tail, 1.85 ; culmeu, .70; gonys, .40; width of lower man- 

 dible at base, .37 ; depth of bill at base, .45 ; tarsus, .82 ; middle toe, .62. 



The form of the bill in this species is very nearly intermediate be- 

 tween that of Cactornis and Geospiza, though decidedly more like the 

 former. 



