512 jMr. P- K.. Lowe — Observations 



CcEREBA POUTORICENSIS. 



CerlMola portoricensis Bryant, Proc. Bost. Soc, Nat. 

 Hist. X., Jau. 1866, p. 252 (Porto Rico ; Coll. U.S. Nat. 

 Mus.). 



Ccereba ijortoricensis Ridgway, Birds N. & M. Amer. pt. ii. 

 1902, p. 412. 



Certhiola sanctl thonKP Sundevall, CEfv. K. Vet.-Ak. Forli. 

 Stocldi. 1869, p. 621 (St. Thomas). 



Hab. Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, St. Thomas, and the 

 Virgin Islands. 



32 specimens in Coll. Brit. Mus. 



9 ditto in Coll. Rothschild. 



8 J (J & 8 ? ? . Coll. P. R. L. 



Examples from Puerto Rico tend to have a deeper shade 

 of yellow on the vuidcr parts (yellow-ochre) as compared with 

 those from St. Thomas and the neighbouring Virgin Islands, 

 in which the yellow is lighter and clearer. 



The coloration of the upper parts, also, in Puerto Rican 

 examples is pure black, as compared with sooty black in 

 adult specimens from St. Thomas, and the wing-feathers of 

 the latter birds tend to be edged with lighter. 



Considering the far more arid conditions which now 

 obtain in St. Thomas, this is what one might have expected ; 

 and although Sundevall's name of sancti-thoma was probably 

 founded on immature specimens with the yellow eye-stripe 

 and the greyish-brown backs, I have been tempted to restore 

 his name for the St. Thomas and Virgin Island birds, and 

 to make them a subspecies of C portoricensis from Puerto 

 Rico. The fact, however, that a series of thirteen birds, 

 taken by me in St. Thomas in the month of January, all 

 present a paler appearance on the upper ])arts than in the 

 case of a series of nine taken by Mr. M.J. Nicoll on the 

 same island in February, causes me to wonder if tiie paler 

 appearance of St. Thomas Island birds examined by me 

 is not due to a seasonal change ; and this opinion is 

 strengthened by the examination of two examples from 

 Virgin Gorda and one from Anegada taken in the months 

 of November and December respectively, in which the 



