Bkewster on Hehninthophaga leucobronchialis. 22 1 



chialis, and, reasoning from that analogy, it seems quite as con- 

 sistent to refer the present example with yellow wing-bands 

 to lawrencei as the specimen No. 605. with white wing-bands, 

 to leucobronckialis' Assuming this to be granted, we will 

 next consider a young bird (No. 4,66s, author's collection) of 

 which the individual just described was ascertained to be the 

 parent. Although in process of change, the fall plumage is fortu- 

 nately sufficiently developed to afford some important points : the 

 gray first plumage of the under parts is replaced across the breast 

 and along the sides by patches of bright yellow feathers-, while 

 the sprouting second plumage of the throat is -pure white; the 

 lores are black, but the few second feathers which appear on the 

 auriculars are, like those of the throat, white* 



It may with confidence be stated that this individual would 

 have developed a fall plumage characterized by black lores, white 

 throat, and yellow breast and sides, a condition, in short, nearly 

 similar to No. 605. Now the only way of accounting for the 

 parentage of such an offspring is to assume that the female, No. 

 4,667, had mated with a male of either H. pinns or H. chrysop- 

 tera ; for had the male been either laivreneei or chrysoptera, 

 the black throat and cheek patches would inevitably have been 

 reproduced. 



A nice muddle, certainly ! But let us see how all the facts in the 

 several cases look when more closely associated. We have found : 

 (1) That the prominent characters of leucobronckialis and law- 

 rencei are not original, but are essentially borrowed from their 

 allies, H. pinus and chrysoptera. (2) That the characters of 

 leucobronchialis are inconstant, and that this supposed species 

 intergrades with pinus. (3) That the characters of lawrencei 

 are also inconstant, and that lawrencei intei'breeds with some 

 unknown ally — presumably H. pinus, producing offspring that 

 resemble aberrant specimens of leucobronchialis. 



The inference to be drawn from all this can scarcely be doubt- 

 ful. Race affinities will not explain the peculiar characters of 

 either leucobronchialis or lawrencei , for the region over which 

 all the known specimens have occurred is everywhere occupied 

 by either one or both of the species to which they are most inti- 

 mately related. Nor can they be considered as either immature 



* Specimens of young chrysoptera, in precisely the same stage, have the throat and 

 cheek-patches distinctly indicated by black or ashy pin-feathers, according to sex. 



