64 



Nelson, Nexv Birds from Mexico and Guatemala. 



TA, 

 Lja 



The following are the measurements of two specimens of this 

 form. 



; v Cardinalis cardinalis littoralis, new subspecies. 



Cardinal. 



Coast 



Type, No. 144301, U. S. Nat. Museum, Dept. Agric. coll., $ , from Coat- 

 zacoalcos, V^era Cruz, Mexico, April 14, 1896. Collected by E. W. Nel.son 

 and E. A. Goldman (Orig. No. 3690). 



Distribution. — The moist, hot, coast lowlands of Vera Cruz, near Coat- 

 zacoalcos and Minatitlan, and undoubtedly ranging into the adjacent 

 parts of Tabasco. 



Description. — The males can be distinguished at once from the other 

 Mexican Cardinals by the intensity of their coloration. With the excep- 

 tion of the black throat patch the entire lower surface, the sides and back 

 of neck and pileum are of a rich poppy red with a wash of carmine. The 

 back including dorsal surface of wings and tail, is intensely rich, dusky 

 red. The capistrum is intensely black and a narrow black band connects 

 the black of the lores across the forehead. 



The female is similar in coloration to yucaianicus, but the colors aie 

 brighter. The black of the capistrum, however, is duller and more of a 

 smoky or dingy shade in the only female seen of the new race. 



They are larger and heavier birds th3.nyucatankusa.nd approach 

 more closely in coloration to satiiratns from Cozumel Island than 

 to any other known form, but are much more intensely colored 

 even than the latter. Specimens of Cardinals obtained at Cate- 

 maco and Otatitlan in Vera Cruz, and near Tuxtepec in eastern 

 Oaxaca, are from a district lying between the type locality of littor- 

 alis and the range of coccineus, of the adjacent country to the north, 

 and show a gradation between the two forms. 



