270 MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN ON THE [Feb. 15, 



Cyanocitta BEECHEII. 



Pica beecheii, Vig. Zool. Journ. iv. p. 353 (1829), et Beechey's 

 Voy. Zool. p. 22, pi. 6. 



Cyanocitta crassirostris, Bp. Consp. i. p. 378 (1850). 



Cyanocorax geoffroii, Bp. C. R. xxxi. p. 564 (1850). 



Cyanocorax beecheyi, Finsch, Abh. Nat. Ver. Bremen, vol. ii. p. 

 333. 



Cyanocitta beecheyii, Lawr. Mem. Boston Soc. N. . ii. p. 283. 



Hab. Nortb-western Mexico ; Mazatlau {Grayson and Bischoff) ; 

 Tres Marias Islands (Xantus). 



As far as can be told by tbe imperfect diagnoses in Bonaparte's 

 ' Conspectus,' his " C. beachii " is founded on a yellow-billed speci- 

 men of the next species, and his C. crassirostris on a black-billed 

 specimen of the present bird. Grayson says decidedly that tbe colour 

 of the bill in the present bird is a sexual character ; and there is not 

 much doubt that he is correct. Bonaparte's C. geoffroii is also 

 undoubtedly based upon an individual of this species. 



There is no example of the true C. beecheii in the British Museum. 

 In the Galerie of the Jardin des Plantes tbere are four, all labelled 

 " Cyanocitta geoffroii, Bp." Two of tbese are from tbe Voyage of 

 the ' Venus,' from San Bias and Mazatlan respectively, that from 

 San Bias being doubtless Bonaparte's type. 



Cyanocitta germana, sp. nov. 



Cyanocitta beachii, Bp. Consp. i. p. 378. (nee. Vig.). 



Corvus (Pica) beecheii, Eyd. et Gerv. Mag. de Zool. 1836, pi. 72, 

 et Voy. 'Favorite,' pi. 20. 



Cyanocitta crassirostris, Salv. Ibis, 1861, p. 353 ; Moore, P. Z. S. 

 1859, p. 57 ; Lawrence, Ann. L. N. Y. ix. p. 201. 



Cyanurus beecheii et C. crassirostris, Gray, Hand-list, ii. pp. 4 & 5. 



Hab. Belize (Salvin, Dyson §• Leylan); Peten (Morelet); Merida, 

 Yucatan (Schott). 



We have already stated that this bird is probably the C. beachii 

 of Bonaparte's ' Conspectus.' Dr. Pucheran first pointed out the 

 difference between the figure of Eydoux and Gervaisin the 'Magasin 

 de Zool.' (which we suppose to be also intended for it) and that of 

 Vigors representing the true beecheii, and associated the former 

 with Morelet's specimens from Yucatan. 



Not having looked sufficiently deeply into the complicated errors 

 of previous workers, we have hitherto used the term crassirostris for 

 the present bird, and have been followed therein by other writers. 

 But, as hinted by Pucheran*, there can be little question that the 

 insufficient diagnosis of Bonaparte's C. crassirostris was really taken 

 from a black-billed C. beecheii. 



As in C. beecheii, both yellow and black-billed specimens occur in 



the present species. Of two examples obtained by Salvin at Belize, one 



has a black bill and the other a yellow. The latter, moreover, has 



slight white tips to the lateral rectrices, which we look upon as a 



* Eev. Zool. 1858, p. 196. 



