^°^89^''] Richmond, Habits of Porzana ctnerciceps. -J I 



there are slight traces of gray on the lores, auriculars, and under 

 the eyes, so that it may be after all only a P. dnereiceps without 

 the normal amount of gray on the head. The locality of its 

 capture, Las Trojas, Costa Rica, is, as I am informed by Mr. 

 Geo. K. Cherrie, near San Mateo, in the neighborhood of the 

 Gulf of Nicoya, on the Pacific coast. It is, then, nearer (if 

 not actually within) the habitat of P. dnereiceps than of P. albi- 

 gularis. An examination of the bird without reference to its 

 locality would lead one to place it with P. albigularis, from its 

 apparently adult plumage (/. e., brown head combined with heavy 

 black-barred underparts), rather than with P. dnereiceps, although, 

 as before stated, some apparently old adults of the latter species 

 have very little gray on the head, while as a rule the younger 

 ones combine this character with very light underparts. 



In the synonomy at the end of this paper I have placed the 

 references to this bird under P. dnereiceps. 



Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe^ considers Porzana dnereiceps to be only 

 a subspecies of P. albigularis, and so it may finally prove to be, 

 but before this point can be settled, it will be necessary to 

 examine birds from the region between Panama and Costa Rica, 

 and such material is not at present to be had. It may be said 

 here that the type of P. dnereiceps, collected by Prof. \V. M. Gabb, 

 and said to be from Talamanca, Costa Rica, is identical with 

 some specimens from the Escondido River, Nicaragua, and is, in 

 fact, typical of P. dnereiceps, although Talamanca is not so very 

 far from Chiriqui and Veragua, where the other species or inter- 

 mediates might be expected to occur. 



The synonomy of Porzana dnereiceps is so mixed up with that 

 of P. albigularis that it may be well to give a tolerably complete 

 list of references to each, which will be found below. 



Porzana albigularis {La7vr.). 



Coretlincra albigularis Lawr. Ann. Lvc. N. Y. \'II, iS6i, p. 302 

 [/"«««;««]. — ScL. & Salv. p. Z. S. 1864, p. 372 (part). 



Porza?ia albigularis ScL. & Salv. Ex. Orn. 1868, p. 109, pi. 55 (part) ; 

 P. Z. S. 1868, p. 454 (part) ; N. Av. Neotrop. 1873, p. 140 (part) ; P. Z. S. 



'Cat. Bds. B. M., XXIII, 1894, p. 337. 



