1889. ] BREWSTER, Descriptions of New Birds. 89 
christened grzseus. Tyrannula obscura of Swainson was based on 
a Flycatcher from Mexico, which is described (Philos. Mag. 1827, 
p- 367) as *‘Above olive gray, beneath yellowish white; wings 
short, brown, with two whitish bands; tail brown, even, the 
outer feather with a pale yellow margin. Length, 54; bill, 
With this descrip- 
tion Baird—not without evident hesitation and the provisional 
re) 
HeAwiy == wiNeSai241*); tall. 2.5015) tarsi, oy. 
10 5 yw : 710 
proposal of another name—identified* a bird which most subse- 
quent writers have followed him in calling Hmpzdonax obscurus. 
It is evident, however, that Swainson’s diagnosis applies more 
nearly to &. grzseus, which is grayer above, yellower beneath (in 
autumn), and longer billed than the #. obscurus of Baird. The 
bill of ov¢sews, however, does not, in the most extreme examples 
before me, reach anything like .7o inch in length, while the wing is 
longer than 2.50 and invariably much longer than the tail, exceed- 
ing it by fully one quarter of an inch in the majority of specimens. 
The under parts, also, are never plain, the breast and sides being 
distinctly grayish at all seasons. These discrepancies have seemed 
to me of sufficient importance to warrant the assumption that the 
name odscuraus cannot be safely taken for the Flycatcher which I 
have called grzsews. Obviously it can serve no longer for Baird’s | 
bird which must stand hereafter as &. wrightiz.t 
. Melospiza lincolni striata, new subspecies.—FORBUSH’S SPARROW. 
Sussp. CHAR.—Similar to JZ. lzncolnz, but with the superciliary stripe 
and entire upper parts more strongly olivaceous, and the dark streaks, 
especially on the pileum, back, and upper tail-coverts, coarser, blacker, 
and more numerous. 
& (No. 14,391, collection of W. Brewster, Comox, British Columbia, 
Sept. 8, 1888; E. H. Forbush). Above dull, slightly brownish olive; 
wings and tail taded clove-brown; all the upper coverts and most of the 
quill and tail feathers, as well as the feathers of the crown, bordered out- 
waidly with chestnut, this broadest and richest on the inner secondaries, 
palest on the primaries and tail feathers, reduced to the narrowest possi- 
ble margin on the feathers of the crown; entire upper parts streaked and 
spotted with black, most coarsely and thickly on the pileum, back, and 
upper tail-coverts where the light ground color is confined to the edges of 
the feathers and occupies much less than half of the total exposed surface 
of the plumage; middle and greater wing-coverts with buffy tips and black 
* Pac. R, R. Rep. Vol. IX, p. 200. 
+ Baird, l. c. 
