564. Mr. P. R. Lowe on the Birds of 
ao. G ad. Jan.'6, 1904. (POR. Lal 
c-e. go ad. ae 
fg. @ ad. } March 20-22, 1906. [P. R. L.] 
These birds are common in the low cactus-scrub and acacia- 
bushes. They flit to and fro from the low bushes with 
short dipping flights. When feeding they creep up and 
down the branches and twigs, picking at flies and insects 
on the leaves and stems. In this respect they behave 
like our Sylvie. In March they are in full song. The 
cock bird takes up his position on an isolated twig above 
some low bush. My field-notes say: ‘‘ Their song is very 
pretty and melodious, a series of rapid low flute-like notes 
slightly increasing in volume towards the end of the trill.’’ 
T have never seen them behave in a manner to remind one of 
a Flycatcher. Mr. Clark (/. c.) found a nest “ much like the 
nest of Dendroica estiva,” 
The name plumbiceps does not occur in the ‘ Catalogue 
of Birds,’ and has evidently escaped Dr. Bowdler Sharpe’s 
notice. He appears to have described the Venezuelan Gnat- 
eatcher as Polioptila sclateri (ef. Sharpe, Cat. B. x. p. 449). 
The principal character given by him for the latter species, 
viz., the absence of white along the secondaries, seems to me 
to be the result of the wearing away of the white edges of the 
feathers and not to be a specific character. In the British 
Museum are two specimens of P. nigriceps from Chiapas, 
Mexico, of which one has white edgings to the secondaries, 
and the other has them grey (like Dr. Sharpe’s P. sclateri), 
but I feel sure that this is caused by the abrasion of the 
feathers. I should not call the Venezuelan and Margaritan 
birds darker grey on the upper surface than Mexican 
specimens of P. nigriceps. In fact, I cannot see any appre- 
ciable difference in the tint of the grey, but, if anything, the 
Margarita birds are slightly paler grey. It seems to me 
that the two species are exceedingly difficult to separate, and I 
think that P. sclateri will have to be united to P. plumbciceps. 
MIMvus GiLvus. 
Mimus gilvus Rebinson, Proc, U.S. Nat. Mus. xvii. p, 680 
(1895) ; Clark, Auk, xix. p. 266 (1902). 
