I'lOID.K — TIIK WOODrKCKKRS. 



r,07 



Dr. Cones calls iittciitioii ••) cxtnumliiuiry (lifll'rencos in the color of tlio 

 iris, which varies from whitt; to rod, hliio, yellow, ochniceoiis, or brown. A 

 mixture of blue, he thinks, imliciites immaturity, and a reddish tinge the 

 full spring coloration. 



The nialc of tliis si)ecies has a white forehead extending a little liaekwards 

 of the anterior edge of the eye, the rest of the top of head to the nape Ijeing 

 red. The female has the wliite forehead, and a (piadrato otx'ipito-nuehal red 

 patch, a black band al)out as broad as the white one separating the latter 

 from the occipital red. Tiie length of th. two anterior bands together is 

 decidedly greater than that of the jjosteriin- red. In lioth sexes the Juguluni 

 is entirely and continuoiisly bla(;k. Anteriorly (generally with a red spt)t in 

 its anterior edge) and on the feathers of its ])osterior bonier only are these 

 elongatoil white spots, on each side the siiaft, the feathers ol' the breast being 

 streaked centrally with black. The inner webs of the secondaries have an 

 elongated continuous ])atcli of white along their internal edge, with a very 

 slight, almost inappreciable, border of black ; this white only very rarely con- 

 verted ])artly or entirely into (quadrate spots, and that never on the inner- 

 most quills marked with white. Specimens from California are very similar 

 to those from the llocky Mountains and the. Hio Grande Valley, except, 

 perhaps, in being larger, with longer and straighter bill. 



In M. Jlavi(jidi( from Bogota, tiie male has the head marked with the red, 

 black, and white (tiie red much less in extent, however) of the female M. 

 formkironis, while the female has no red whatever. All, or nearly all, the 

 feathers of the juguluni have the two white spots, and (as jiointed out by 

 Eeichenbach) the white of the inner webs of the inner (piills is entirely con- 

 verted into a series of non-conlluent qiuulrate spots. The black streaks on 

 the sides and behind appear to be of greater magnitude, and more uniformly 

 distril)uted. In both species all the tail-feathers are perfectly Idack. 



A Guatemalan bird, received from Mr. Salvin as M. formiciror !(.■<, — and in- 

 deed all specimens from Orizaba and jMirador to Costa lUca, — agrees in the 

 main with t'le northern bird, except that all the black feathers of the jugu- 

 luni have white spots, as in M.fari(jul:(. The outermost tail-feather of Mr. 

 Salvin's specimen has two narrow transverse whitish bands, and a sjHjt indi- 

 cating a third, as well as a light tip. The white markings on the inner 

 quills are more like the northern bird, though on the (nitermost ones there 

 is the same tendency to form spots as in a few northern specimens (as 

 G,149 from Los Nogales, &c.). The bill is very dill'erent from either in being 

 shorter, broader, much stouter, and the culinen nun-e decurved. 



These peculiarities, which are constant, appctar to indicate a decided or 

 strongly marked variety, as a series of almost a hundred specimens of 

 the northern bird from many localities exhibit none of the characters 

 mentioned, while all of an equally large series from Central America agree 

 in possessing them. 



A series of Jalapan specimens from the cabinet of Mr. Lawrence show a 



