CONTOPUS. 81 



Long, tota 7'0, alse 4-4, caudsB rect. med. 2-5, reck. lat. 2'85, tarsi 0*6, rostri a rictni 0-95. (Deser. maris 

 ex Sierra Madre, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. North America, from Canada southwards. — Mexico, Eio de Papagaio in Guer- 

 rero {Mrs. E. H. Smith), Hacienda de las Escobas {F. B. Armstrong), Sierra Madre 

 above Ciudad Victoria ( W. S. Richardson), State of Vera Cruz {Svmichrast ^^), 

 Cuesta de Misantla {M. Trujillo), Orizaba [Botteri ^^), Cordova {SalU ^^), La Parada 

 (Boucard), Cacoprieto (Sumichrast ^) ; Guatemala {SJcinner ^^), Coban, Duenas 

 {0. S. & F. D. G.) ; Costa Eica {Hoffmann ^^), Irazu {Rogers) ; Panama, Calobre^ 

 {ArcS). — Colombia ; Peru ^^ 



It is possible that Lichtenstein's Muscicapa mesoleuca, described as " Graugriinlich, 

 mit weisslicher Kehle und dergl. Bauch," is meant for this species ; and, if so, the name 

 has one year's priority over Swainson's Tyrannus borealis. But, though the specific 

 name is suggestive, the description is very meagre, so that we are not disposed to displace 

 the specific name borealis in favour of mesoleucus * for this Contopus. Mr. Sclater's use 

 of the same name in 1859 was made without reference to Lichtenstein's prior application 

 of it. Contopus mesoleucus of the later author is certainly a synonym of C. borealis. 



Though this species is rare in the Atlantic States of North America, it enjoys a wide 

 summer range in the northern districts from Massachusetts westwards, and throughout 

 the South-western States to the Mexican border. We have no record of it along the 

 western slope of the Mexican cordillera north of the State of Guerrero nor on the 

 plateau, but it is found abundantly on the flank of the mountains facing the Atlantic, 

 and thence southwards to the Pacific on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In Guatemala it 

 occurs in the mountainous parts, and in similar districts of Costa Rica and the State of 

 Panama, and also in South America as far as Northern Peru. The nest of C. borealis 

 is usually placed near the extremity of a horizontal branch of a pine or other tree, and 

 is composed of strips of bark, roots, mosses, &c. loosely put together to form a shallow 

 structure. The eggs are creamy buff, spotted, usually in a more or less distinct ring 

 around the larger end, with deep rusty brown or chestnut and purplish grey. 



b'. Abdomen in medio haud album haud ochraceum. 

 2. Contopus musicus. 



Tyrannula nrnsica, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 368 \ 



Contopus per tinax, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 72^; Sol. Cat. Am. B. p. 231 ' j Cat. Birds Brit. 



Mus. xiv. p. 235 * ; Salv. Ibis, 1866, p. 203 " ; Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 314 ' ; Sumichrast, MEm. 



Best. See. N. H. i. p. 557'; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N.Am. B. ii. p. 356 'j Henshaw, Rep. 



Geogr. Surv. West 100th Mer. v. p. 351'; Lawr. Mem. Bost. See. N. H. ii. p. 287'°; Bull. 



U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 27 " ; Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 439 " ; F.-Perez, Pr. U. S. 



Nat. Mus. ix. p. 155 " ; Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. p. 337 ' 



' 14 



* Elainea mesoleuca, Licht. Nomenol. p. 17 ; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 60, from Montevideo, may also 

 possibly refer to the same bird, wrongly attributed to Mexico. In Lichtenstein's ' Nomenclator ' Contopus 

 borealis is called Myiarchus villicus. 



BIOL. CBNTK.-AMBR., Aves, VoL IL, March 1889. 11 



