352 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



A rare bird, whose exact range is uncertain, although it seems con- 

 fined to the Tropical Zone. Mr. Smith forwarded a specimen from 

 Valparaiso (4,500 feet), but the writer has never taken it above the 

 lowlands. The Mamatoco specimens were all shot in the woodland 

 along the Manzanares River, while the individual taken at Dibulla 

 was shot in the shade-trees of a cacao-plantation. 



306. Myiochanes brachytarsus subsp. 



Contopus brachytarsus Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XII, 1898, 137 

 ("Santa Marta "). — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 143 

 (Minca and Cacagualito). — •(?) Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXI, 

 1905, 282 (Bonda; descr. nest and eggs). 



Myiochanes brachytarsus Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 50, IV, 1907, 

 526 (Santa Marta localities and references). 



Eleven specimens : Don Diego, Minca, Dibulla, and Mamatoco. 



The subspecific name which these specimens should bear is uncer- 

 tain. They certainly differ from three Costa Rican skins (birds in 

 fresh plumage alone being considered) in being more grayish, less 

 brownish above, but the latter may not represent true brachytarsus 

 (described from Mexico). On the other hand, they agree in color 

 with several specimens from Bolivia and Argentina which Dr. Ober- 

 holser pronounces M. brachytarsus andinus, but their bills average 2 

 mm. longer. Both Mr. Hellmayr and Dr. Hartert have accepted the 

 name andinus for the South American form of M. brachytarsus, despite 

 certain discrepancies between Taczanowski's description and speci- 

 mens from that continent, and a re-examination of the type in the 

 Warsaw Museum is desirable, but for obvious reasons is not prac- 

 ticable at present. Mr. Hellmayr further insists that the Platyrhyn- 

 chus cinereus of Spix is conspecific with the present species (Abhand- 

 lungen der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie de*r Wissenschaften, 

 Math.-phys. Kl., XXVI, 1912, 120), an opinion with which, after con- 

 sulting the- original description and plate, we can scarcely agree. 



Individual and seasonal variation is considerable in this species, and 

 complicates the. question still further. In most specimens the pileum 

 is distinctly dusky as compared with the back, but in one skin from 

 Don Diego (No. 44,626, February 5) It is scarcely different. 



A species which does not seem to be common anywhere, although 

 perhaps more numerous in the lowlands. In its haunts and habits it 

 IS very similar to M. virens, while the nests and eggs described by Dr. 



