474 ME. O. SALVIN ON THE AVIFAUNA 



d ad. supra olivaceus : pileo antico castaneo : alis et cauda fusco-nigris extus olivaceo 

 raarginatis ; tectricibus alarum conspicue luteo marginatis : rectricibus, nisi duabus 

 mediis, in pogonio interne luteis, apicibus fuscis : subtus flavus, pectore et hypochondriis 

 raaculis elongatis castaneis notatis. 



<S jun. supra olivaceus, pileo antico concolori: alis et cauda fuscis plumarum margi- 

 nibus dorso concoloribus : subtus sordide luteus, maculis castaneis adulti carens. 



2 ad. supra cinereo-olivacea, tectricibus alarum sordide albo marginatis: subtus alba 

 vix luteo tincta : iride brunnea. 



Ilab. Galapagos generally {Darwin) ; Chatham Island, Charles Island, James Island 

 (Sundevall) ; Indefatigable Island, Bindloe Island, Abingdon Island {Hahel) ; Gala- 

 pagos (NebotLv). 



Of this form of Bendvaeca cestiva Dr. Habel has collected a large series of specimens 

 of different ages and of both sexes. Fifty-four are from Indefatigable, two from Bindloe, 

 and seven from Abingdon. Mr. Darwin does not particularize the islands on which he 

 met with it, but says that it is " not uncommon on tlie islands." We may therefore 

 assume that it is generally distributed over the group. 



Professor Baird, in his ' Review of American Birds,' has given a careful resume of 

 the differences which may be detected in the various local forms of B. cestiva. "With 

 the present form he was only acquainted from the figvire and description in the 'Voyage 

 of the Beagle,' and says of it that it " appears to resemble B. petechia in coloration, but 

 to differ in fewer and lesser stripes beneath, in the grey of the head, and the lightness 

 of the abdomen." Tiie original specimen thus spoken of appears not to have been 

 quite adult; for in the fuU-plumaged birds of B. aureoJa the differences alluded to 

 entirely vanish, and the general plumage becomes as nearly as possible that of B. petechia. 

 The only differences I can detect are: — (1) the general size of B. aureola is slightly 

 larger ; (2) the second, thii'd, and fourth primaries in most specimens of B. aureola are 

 nearly equal, in B. petechia the second is generally rather shorter than the two fol- 

 lowing. But I do not believe that it would be always possible to separate a series of 

 specimens of these two forms if mixed together. 



Under these circumstances, regarding the two forms as virtually identical, we have 

 the following singular state of affairs. The bird from the Galapagos is the same as 

 that from Jamaica, whereas on the intervening continent two other (so-called) species 

 occur — namely, B. cestiva as a winter migrant, and B. vieilloti as a resident — but never, 

 as far as we know, B. petechia. 



" During my stay in the archipelago I was strongly disposed to believe that the spe- 



