38 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



A. Crown plain rufons ; interscapulars without distinct black contrcf?, and 

 tertiuls without whitish border. UluckLsh "bridle" eonspieuou^s. iJend of 

 wing cdfjed with white. 



1. P. ruficeps. 



Above olivaceous-ash, interscapulars with broad streaks of dull 

 rufous, the shafts scarcely blackish. Crown bright rulbus. Wing, 

 2.40; tail, 2.70; bill, .29 from forehead, .20 deep; tarsus, .7<>; 

 middle toe without claw, .;").■). Ilah. California (and Mexico in 



winter?) var. rn/iceps. 



Darker, above brownish-plumbeous, dorsal streaks scarcely rufous, 



and with distinctly black shatt-streaks ; crown darker rufous. 



Wing, 2.40; tail, 2.fiO; bill, .34 and .2.') ; tarsus, .77 ; middle toe, 



J}7. Hah. Mexico (Orizaba ; Oaxaca), in summer . var. hoticardi} 



B* Crown streaked ; interscapulars with distinct black centres ; tertials 



sharply bordered terminally with paler. "Bridle" obsolete; bend of wing 



edged with yellowish. 



2. P. aestivaliB. Above uniformly marked with broad streaks or lon- 

 gitudinal blotches of deep rufous ; black streaks confined to interscapu- 

 lars and crown. Tail-feathers without darker shaft-stripe, and without 

 indications of darker bars ; the outer feathers without distinct white. 

 Black marks on upper tail-coverts inconspicuous, longitudinal. 



The bluish-ash, and chestnut-rufous streaks above sharply con- 

 trasted ; black dorsal streaks broad. Wing, 2.45 ; tad, 2.G;"> ; bill, 

 .30 and .30 ; tarsus, .73 ; middle toe, .60. Hah. Southern States 

 from Florida and Georgia to Southern Illinois . . var. cbstivalifi. 



The dull ash and light rufous streaks above not sharply defined ; 

 black dorsal streaks narrow. Wing, 2.G.") ; tail, 3.00; bill, .32 and 

 .25 ; tarsus, .80 ; middle toe, .63. Hub. Southern border of the 

 Arizona region of Middle Province of United States . . var. nrizoncp.. 



Markings badly defined as in the last, but the rufous streaks 

 darker (in summer plumage almost entirely black), with more black 

 on the crown. Wing, 2.55 ; tail, 2.G5 ; bill, .32 and .25 ; tarsus, 

 .80; middle toe, .60. Hah. Mexico (Orizaba; Mirador, Coliraa). 



var. hotter i I ."•' 



3. P. cassini. Above marked ever}'^ where with broad short streaks of 

 pale (not reddish) brown streaks, all black medially. Tail-feathers with 



^ Zonotrichia boncardi, Sclatek, T. Z. S. 1867, 1, pi. i, La Puebla, Hex. (scarcely definable 

 as distinct from r^/jctyw). 



2 Pcuctm hotkrii, Sclateii, Cat. Am. B. 1862, 116 {Zonotrichia b. V. Z. S. 1857, 214), Ori- 

 zaba. Cuturtiicuhis mcxicana. Lawk. Ann. N. Y. Lye. VIII, 1867, 474 (Colinia). 



This form can scarcely be defined separately from ocstivalis. The type of C. mexicunus, 

 Lawk., is undistinguishable from Orizaba specimens. A specimen in the worn summer plumage 

 (44,7529? Mirador, July) differs in hiiving the streaks above almost wholly black, with scarcely 

 any rufous edge ; the crown is almost uniformly blackish. The feathers are very much worn, 

 however, and the specimen is without doubt referrible to hottcri. 



The Peuccca notostida of Sclater (P. Z. S. 1868, 322) we have not seen ; it appears to differ 

 in some impoi-tant respects from the forms diagnosed above, and may, possibly, Ikj a good species. 

 Its place in our system appears to be with section "A," but it differs from ruficeps and houcardi 

 in the median stripe on the crown, arfd the black streaks in the nifous of the lateral portion, 

 the blacker streaks of the dorsal region, and some other less important points of coloration. The 

 size appears to ha larger than in any of the forms given in our synopsis (wing, 2.70 ; tail, 3.00). 

 Hah. States of Puebla and Mexico, Mex. 



-a 



