240 Todd, Bahaman Species of Geothlypis. L April 



The latest authority to deal with the question is Mr. J. Lewis 

 Bonhote, 1 who, apparently without having seen Mr. Ridgway's 

 conclusions, challenges the status of G. maynardi, adducing argu- 

 ments as well as a priori considerations tending to show that it 

 represents merely the fully adult plumage of G. rostrata. Mr. 

 Bonhote further records a dull-colored bird from Abaco which he 

 refers doubtfully to G. tanncri, but he points out that if " G. may- 

 nardi and G. rostrata prove to be two good species, then the dull 

 Abaco bird must be specifically distinct from G. tanneri, but could 

 hardly be considered distinct from G. rostrata." 



With this historical review of the subject as an introduction, let 

 us now take up our series of specimens. Laying aside for the mo- 

 ment the (twenty-two) female and young birds and confining our 

 attention to the adult males, we find the island of New Providence 

 represented by forty-six specimens, with three exceptions all 

 taken during the first six months of the year, and therefore in 

 winter or nuptial plumage, as the case may be. Unlike G. trichas, 

 there would seem to be no prenuptial moult, the nuptial plumage 

 being acquired apparently by wear alone; at any rate, I can find 

 no traces of such a moult in the present series. The lot of skins as 

 they lie fall naturally into two series, the criteria for their separa- 

 tion being the intensity of the yellow below and the color of the 

 flanks and tibiae. One, with which the type of G. rostrata agrees, 

 is paler yellow below, the abdomen decidedly duller and paler 

 than the throat and breast, while the flanks are conspicuously 

 "light buffy grayish brown" — a difficult color to name precisely, 

 but sufficiently distinctive autoptically. The other lot, to which 

 the type of G. maynardi belongs, is obviously deeper and brighter 

 yellow below, almost as bright on the belly as anteriorly, while the 

 flanks are greenish yellow. These differences stand out promi- 

 nently when the two series are compared as such, and apparently 

 are not influenced to any extent by wear. Turning the skins backs 

 uppermost, corresponding differences are obvious between the 

 respective series, although perhaps not so decided or constant as 

 in the case of the under parts. In G. rostrata the back is duller 

 olive green, the gray of the crown is purer, less greenish, and the 



« Ibis, 1903, 283-286. 



