PTBOCEPHALUS.— -SAYOENIS. 61 



than one continental species of this genus, unless indeed P. ohscurus is really separable. 

 Under any circumstances P. mexicanus and P. ruUneus must pass under the same 

 name. With at least one hundred and fifty specimens before us from various localities 

 no other conclusion seems possible. An occasional example from S. America is blacker 

 than others, but this does not appear to be the rule in any one locality. 



M. ruUneus appears to be a very common bird on the southern side of the Eio Grande 

 and Gila rivers, but rarer on the Texan side of the northern limit of its range. Thence 

 it passes southwards through a large portion of Mexico, extending from ocean to ocean 

 and living in equal abundance in the highlands of the valley of Mexico. It occurs 

 also in Northern Yucatan and on Cozumel Island, as well as in British Honduras in the 

 pine districts so characteristic, of that country. In Guatemala it was found by 

 Constancia, but in what locality we were never able to ascertain, for we only once met 

 with it in our many journeys through that country and it certainly does not come 

 within the hunting-grounds of the bird-collectors of Coban. It was only on emerging 

 from the vast forests of Northern Vera Paz between the villages of San Luis and 

 Poctum that Salvin found it abundant in the large open pine-tract crossed by the road 

 to Peten. It was equally common in all similar districts of that region, but always in 

 open country and not in the forests which line the river-banks. 



The brilliant plumage of the male bird and its habit of rising in the air and 

 descending somewhat after the manner of Anthus pratensis render P. rubineus a 

 conspicuous bird wherever it is found, and one not easily overlooked in a country 

 inhabited by it. 



Its absence from all the country south of Guatemala until we reach Colombia is 

 remarkable and not easily accounted for, as localities apparently suitable to it are to be 

 found through most of the intervening countries. 



Mr. Hudson ^ has published some interesting notes on this species as observed by 

 him in the Argentine Eepublic. In that country P. rubineus is a migratory bird, 

 arriving about the end of September and soon afterwards commencing to breed. Its 

 nest is composed of lichens, webs, and thistle-down, which are neatly woven into a 

 compact nest and sometimes lined with feathers. The eggs, four in number, are pointed, 

 and spotted at the broad end with black and usually with a few large grey spots. 



SAYORNIS. 



Sayornis, Bonaparte, Ann. Sc. Nat. s^r. 4, Zool. i. p. 133 (1854) (type Sayornis saya) ; Scl. Cat. 



Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 32. 

 Aulanasc, Cabanis, J. f. Orn. 1856, p. 2 (type Sayornis nigricans) . 

 Theromyias, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 68 (1859) (type Sayornis saya) . 

 Empidias, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 69 (1859) (type Sayornis phmbe) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. 



Mus. xiv. p. 264. 

 The position of this genus and its limits have been and still remain uncertain. Prof. 

 Cabanis, who divides it into three genera, places all of them near Myiarchus in the 



