( 238 ) 



This species is evidently out of place in the genus Sporophila, and seems best 

 referred for the present at least to Catamenia, although its bill, in comparison 

 to C. analis, is laterally much more compressed, with the cnlmen slightly ridged 

 instead of being distinctly rounded. The upper mandible, however, is very nearly 

 as depressed as in C. analis. 



C. obscura (Lair. & D'Orb.) ranges from N.W. Argentine (Salta) through 

 Eastern Bolivia (Chiquitos, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Omeja) and Peru (Paltay- 

 pampa, Tarapoto, Vina, Huamachuco, Callacate) to Western Ecuador (Chimbo, 

 Cayandeled, Paramba). 



54. Poospiza cabanisi Bonap. 



Poospiza cabanisi Bonaparte, Gonsp. Av. i. p. 473 (July 1850. Paraguay, Mus. Paris). 

 Poospiza assimilis Cabanis, Mus. Heinean. i. p. 137 (May 1851. South Brazil and Paraguay). 



No. 1. Mas. d'Hist. Nat. Paris. Adult (skin). Paraguay, Bonpland coll. "No. 

 108, Gen. Dub. canelle en dessous." On the back of the label in Bonaparte's 

 own handwriting : " Poospiza Gabanisii Bonap." 



Wing 68 ; tail 66 ; bill 12 mm. 



This specimen, which is undoubtedly the type of Bonaparte's description, 

 belongs to the species commonly called P. assimilis Cab., and agrees pretty well with 

 a c? ad. from Sao Lourenco, Rio Grande do Sul, H. von Ihering coll. in the Paris 

 Museum. But being in rather fresher plumage, it is everywhere brighter, 

 the mantle more decidedly brownish, the upper part of the head washed with 

 olive-grey, etc. Above the eye and auricular region there is a broad white 

 superciliary stripe ; throat and foreneck are pale greyish buff, middle of breast 

 and abdomen largely white ; sides of body and crissum, as also the whole of the 

 lower rump, including the upper tail-coverts, bright cinnamon-rufous ; only the two 

 outermost pairs of rectrices tipped with white, etc. 



Bonaparte's name having priority must supersede the term assimilis Cab. 

 Cabanis' statement that P. cabanisi is well characterised by lacking the rufous 

 colour on the rump. I am unable to understand, for Bonaparte in the original 

 description expressly says : " uropygio, lateribus crissoque fulvo-castaneis." 



P. cabanisi Bonap. ranges from southern Sao Paulo (Ytarare), through Parana 

 and Rio Grande do Sul to Paraguay and the Argentine provinces of Misiones and 

 Entrerios.* 



55. Emberizoides megarhyncha Bonap. = Embernagra platensis (Gm.) juv. 



Emberizoides megarhyncha Bonaparte, Comp. Av. i. p. 482 (July 1850. Mus. Paris, ex Brasil.). 



No. 1. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. Paris, juv. (mounted) : "Emberizoides megarhyncha 

 Bp. Type, du Bre'sil, par M. Auguste Saint-Hilaire, aout 1822." 



Wing 81, tail 84, bill 17 J mm. 



This is quite a young bird, mostly covered with the fluffy feathers of the 

 nestling plumage ; only on the shoulders (lesser wing-coverts) and here and there 

 on the back some isolated feathers of the adult dress are just C" 'ing out. The 

 large, thickish bill, and the strong legs with long toes, leave no ,oubt as to its 

 being a pullus of Embernagra platensis. 



* I have examined fourteen specimens from the following localities : 2 ( ^ $ ) Ytarare, S. Paulo ; 

 4 (2 cf , 2 ?) Roca Nova, Sena do Mar, Parana ; 1 Campo Largo, Parana; G Bio Grande do Sul 

 (Taquara do Mundo Novo, Sao Lourenco, Arroio Grande) ; 1 <- La Soledad, Entrerios. 



