AURIPARUS SYNONYMY OF A. FLAVICEPS 129 



Genus AURIPARUS Baird 



CHARS. Head not crested. Wings pointed, the second quill 

 being little shorter than the third ; the first spurious. Tail little 

 rounded, decidedly shorter than the wings. Bill not typically 

 pariue extremely acute, with straight or slightly concave 

 under outline, and barely convex culmen ; longer and slenderer 

 than usual in Parlnce; nostrils scarcely concealed by the imper- 

 fect ruff. Tarsi relatively shorter than in the preceding genera. 

 Bright colors on head (yellow) and wing (red). Plumage com- 

 paratively compact ; sexes alike, but young very different from 

 the adult. Size very small. General form sylvicoline. Nest 

 globular, woven. Egg spotted. 



This remarkable genus departs widely from ordinary parine 

 characters, and I am far from satisfied with its reference to 

 this family, suspecting that Mr. Lawrence was nearer right in 

 describing the type-species as a Conirostrum. The bill is de- 

 cidedly unlike that of any of the American genera of Paridce, 

 resembling that of some species of the sylvicoline genus Hel- 

 minthophaga, though stouter at base, in this coming still closer 

 to the form found in some exotic genera of Ccerebidw or 

 Dacnidce. Examination of the tongue in the fresh state might 

 give a clue to the true position of the genus. For the rest, the 

 character of the plumage, its changes, and the system of colora- 

 tion are peculiar as far as American Paridce are concerned. 



Yellow-headed Terdin 



Anriparns flaviceps 



&itbalug flaviceps, Sund. "Ofvei-s. Svensk. Akad. Forh. vii. pt. v. 1850, 129". 



Psaltria flaviceps, Sci. PZS. 1856, 37. 



Paroides flaviceps, Bd. BNA. 1858, 400; ed. of I860, pi. 53, f. &Bd. Pr. Phila. Acad. xi. 



1859, 304 (Cape Saint Lucas). Bd. U. S. Mex. B. Surv. ii. pt. ii. 1859, 14, pi. 15, f. 2. 



Bd. Ives's Rep. Col. R. pt. vi. 1861, 6. 



AcgithnlllS flaviceps, Heerm. PRRR. x. 1859, Williamson's Route, Birds, 43. 

 Psaltriparus flaviceps, Sci. CAB. 186 1, 13. 



Auriparus flaviceps, Bd. RAB. 1864, 85. Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. xviii. 1866, 79 (Arizona). 

 Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1868, 83 (the same). Coop. Am. Nat. iii. 1869, 474. Coop. B. 



Cal. i. 1870, 51, fig. Coues, Key, 1872, 82. B. B. if R. NAB. i. 1874, 112, figs. pi. 7, 



f. ll.Hensh. Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, 99,-Hensh. Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid. 1876, 173. 

 ConirostPUin ornatum, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. v. 1852, 112, pi. 5, f. 1 (Texas). 5d. Stansb. 



Rep. GSL. 1852, 327. McCown, Ann. Lye. N. Y. vi. 1853, 9 (Texas). 



HAB. Valley of the Rio Grande and of the Colorado (not known north to 

 Colorado or Utah). Lower California to Cape Saint Lucas. 



CH. SP. 3 $ Cinereus, alls cauddque obscurioribus ; infra 

 albidus; capite flavo, tectricibus alarum minoribus rubro-castaneis. 



9 B C 



