382 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



ing from Mexico to Panama, in which the sides, flanks, and crissum 

 are strongly tinged with greenish yellow. This is of course the true 

 Todirostrum schistaceiceps of Sclater, described from Oaxaca, Mexico. 

 Colombian specimens (including, besides those listed above, a number 

 from other parts of that country), on the other hand, are markedly 

 paler and whiter below, with the greenish yellow tinge fainter and 

 more restricted. They agree exactly with the type of Todirostrum 

 superciliaris Lawrence, kindly loaned by Dr. Chapman, and which is 

 labelled " Carthagena," and not Venezuela, as given in the original de- 

 scription. Then there are the Venezuelan birds, from both the north 

 coast and the Orinoco region, which agree in having the under parts 

 more deeply and extensively gray, the throat more decidedly flammulated, 

 and the greenish yellow of the posterior under parts duller. This is 

 the form described a few years ago by the writer {Proceedings Biolog- 

 ical Society of Washington, XXVI, 1913, 170) under the name Todi- 

 rostrum schistaceiceps griseolum, but Mr. Hellmayr writes that this 

 name is unquestionably a- synonym of the Todus sylvia of Desmarest 

 (Histoire Naturelle de Tanagras, des Manakins et des Todiers, 1805, 

 pi. 71), a species described from Cayenne (cf. Hellmayr, Abhand- 

 lungen der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenchaften, Math, 

 phys. Kl., XXVI, 1912, 89, footnote). This being the earliest name 

 applied to any member of the group will naturally supplant schistacei- 

 ceps as the specific name. 



Like the other members of this generic group this little flycatcher 

 is a species of the Tropical Zone, inhabiting the lowlands from Santa 

 Marta around to.Fundacion, but more numerous on the west side of 

 the Sierra Nevada. It frequents shrubbery and woodland, keeping 

 rather low down as a rule, and is quite tame. Most of its food is 

 taken on the wing, in true flycatcher, style. It has the same harsh note 

 as the other species of the genus. 



344. Todirostrum nigriceps Sclater. 



Todirostrum nigriceps Sclater, Proc. Z06I. Soc. London, 1855, 66, pi. 84, fig. 

 I ("Santa Marta"; orig. descr. ; type now in coll. Brit. Mus. ; crit.) ; 1857, 

 84 ("Santa Marta''; ref. orig., descr.). — Sclater,, Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 

 207 ("Santa Marta")- — Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Z06I. Soc. London, 

 1864, 358 ("Santa Marta"). — Gray, Hand-List Birds, I, 1869, 348 ("Santa 

 Marta," in' range). — Sclater and Salvin, Norn. Avium Neotrop., 1873, 45 

 (range). — Giebel, Thes. Orn., Ill, 1877, 641 (ref. orig. descr.).— Sclater, 



