I8G8.] ON NEW AMERICAN BIRDS. 325 



the present bird is of exactly the same form as P. biarcuatian, and 

 rather smaller in dimensions. 



4. Pyrgisoma kieneri. 



Pyrgisoma kieneri, Bp, Cousp. i. p. 486. 



Fuscum,pileo et capiiis lateribus rufis: plumis auricularibus dorso 

 concoloribvs, harum autem apicibus castaneis, loris albescen- 

 tibus, fronte et genis fuscescenti-nigris : sitbtus album, hgpo- 

 chondriis dorso concoloj'ibiis, macula pectorali indistincta nigra; 

 crisso rufescente ; i-ostro nigricanti-corneo, pedibus pallide 

 corylinis : long, tola 7*3, alee 3"3, caudce 2"9, tarsi 1. 



Hab. Western Mexico (?). 



Mus. Paris. 



Obs. Similis P. rubricato, sed rostro magis crasso, pedibus ro- 

 bustioribus, et colore corporis superi bruunescentiore. 



The insufficient diagnosis of Pyrgisoma kieneri given in the 

 ' Conspectus' has principally caused the great confusion which now 

 prevails among the species of this group, and which, having lately 

 inspected the typical example of this species in the Paris Museum, 

 we now hope to clear up. Pyrgisoma kieneri of Bonaparte is 

 founded on a single skin in the Paris Museum, collected during the 

 voyage of the 'Danaide' in May 1843. The locality is not given ; 

 but the bird was in all probability obtained somewhere on the west- 

 ern coast of Mexico. In general plumage P. kieneri is more like 

 P. rubricatum than any other species of the group ; but it is at once 

 distinguishable from all its congeners by its stouter bill, and larger 

 and stronger tarsi and toes. It was, no doubt, tliese characters that 

 induced Prince Bonaparte subsequently to remove it from Pyrgisoma 

 and to associate it with the Brown Pipilos {P. fuscus, &c.) as a 

 separate genus Kieneria^. It is, in fact, rather difficult to decide 

 whether to arrange Pyrgisoma kieneri with the other Pyrgisomas or 

 with these Pipilos. But, upon the whole, we prefer to adopt the 

 former course, as it would be unnatural to dissociate it from P. ru- 

 bricatum, with which it so closely agrees in plumage. But P. ru- 

 bricatum is certainly a typical species of Pyrgisoma, as is allowed 

 by all writers upon the group. 



The five species of Pyrgisoma known to us may be arranged as 

 follows : — 



Sect. a. Species pileo castaneo, gutture albo. 



a', pectore immaculate. 



(1) Pyrgisoma biarcuatum. 



Pyrgita biarcuata, Prev. Voy. Venus, Ois. t. 6. 

 Pyrgisoma biarcuatum, Bp. Consp. p. 486; Scl. & Salv, Ibis, 

 1859, pp. 5, 18. 



Hab. Guatemala (Salvin). 

 Mus. P. L. S. et S.-G. 



* Compt. Rend. xl. p. :!5G (IB-iS). 



