[OO Oberholser, Description of a Netv Empido7iax. Ilulv 



LJuly 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW EMPIDONAX, WITH NOTES 

 ON EMFIDONAX DIFFICILIS. 



BY HARRY C. OBERHOLSER. 



There are in the collection of the United States Biological 

 Survey five specimens of an Empidoiiax^ taken by Mr. Clark P. 

 Streator on the Santa Barbara Islands, California. These prove 

 to be quite distinct from their nearest mainland relative E, difficilis^ 

 and to constitute thus an interesting and apparently undescribed 

 form, which, in view of its island habitat, may very appropriately 

 be designated 



Empidonax insulicola, sp. nov. 



Chars, sp. — E. difficili similis, sed supra obscurior ct bninnescentior ; 

 infra pallidior, pectore vix ochraceo-brtinneo lavato. 



Al., 64.5-69.5 (68.2) mm.; caud., 59.5-64 (61.4) mm.; culm, exp., 11-13 

 (11. 8) mm.; tars., 17-18 (17.7) mm. 



Habitat. — Insulae Santa Barbara, California. 



Description. — Type, male adult. No. 140078, U. S. Nat. Mus., Biological 

 Survey Collection; Santa Rosa Island, California, Julj' 3, 1892; C. P. 

 Streator. Above olive brown, slightly paler and more greenish on rump, 

 darker on head. Wings fuscous, the lesser coverts edged with the color 

 of the back; median and greater coverts tipped with brownish white, this 

 forming two conspicuous wing-bands; secondaries and tertials margined 

 externally with the same color. Tail fuscous, the outer webs of the 

 feathers very narrowly edged with the color of the back. Lores and 

 orbital ring dull yellowish white, the former somewhat mixed with olive ; 

 sides of head and neck like the back, but rather lighter, and shading 

 gradually into the color of under parts ; chin and throat dull grayish white, 

 faintly washed with ^-ellow ; remainder of lower surface straw yellow, 

 slightly paler on juguluin and crissum, inconspicuously tinged across 

 breast and on sides and flanks with olive brown ; bend of wing below buff ; 

 axillars and inferior wing-coverts straw yellow. 



From EjHpidonax chieritius, with typical specimens of which it 

 has been compared, this new species differs in being darker, less 

 ashy, and somewhat more olivaceous above — particularly on the 

 head — and rather deeper, more continuously yellow below. From 

 E. difficilis it may be readily distinguished by its darker, browner 

 upper parts, especially the head, and by the usually much paler 



