BIKD8 OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMKKICA. 103 



IPhomicosoma] erythrocephalum Giebel, Thesaurus Orn., iii, 1876, 110. 

 Pyranga cucullata Du Bus, Bull. Ac. Roy. Brux., xiv, pt. 2, 1847, 105 (Mexico; 



coll. Brussels Mus.) ; Rev. Zool., 1848, 245.— Bonaparte, Consp. Av i' 



1850, 241. 



Genus HETEROSPINGUS Ridgway. 



Heterospingus Ridgway, Auk, xv, no. 3, July (pub. May 13), 1898, 225. (Type, 

 Tachyphomis rubrifrons Lawrence. ) 



Similar to Tachyjihonus, but nasal f ossse densely feathered, concealing 

 the nostrils; tail relatively much shorter, wing more pointed, tarsus 

 shorter (scarcely exceeding middle toe with claw), and sexes either 

 alike in color or nearly so in pattern of coloration. 



Exposed culmen about six-sevenths as long as tarsus, straight for 

 more than basal half, then strongly curved to the slightly uncinate 

 tip; gonys much shorter than length of maxilla from nostril, slightly 

 convex; depth of bill at base equal to decidedly more than half the 

 distance from nostril to tip of maxilla, about equal to its basal width; 

 maxillary tomium concave anteriorly and subbasally, faintly convex 

 between, distinctly notched subterminally and slightly deflected ba- 

 sally; mandibular tomium straight, the basal portion slightly convex 

 and deflected. Nostril concealed by dense feathering of nasal fossae, 

 horizontally oval. Rictal bristles scarcely obvious. Wing long (about 

 four times as long as tarsus), slightly rounded (eighth to sixth pri- 

 maries longest and nearly equal, ninth a little shorter than fifth); pri- 

 maries exceeding secondaries by nearly the length of the tarsus. Tail 

 shorter than wing by length of tarsus, slightly double-rounded, the 

 rectrices broad, with compact webs and rounded tips. Tarsus stout, 

 very slightly longer tiian middle toe with claw; lateral claws reaching 

 about to base of middle claw, the inner toe a little shorter than the 

 outer; hind claw shorter than its digit — all the claws strongly curved 

 and sharp. 



Goloratioii. — Rump bright yellow, underwing-co verts and patch on 

 each side of breast white; rest of plumage black, with orange- red 

 supra-auricular tufts {H. xanthopygnis, adult male), or dark slate-gray 

 above, lighter gray beneath {II. xantkopygius, female, and both sexes 

 of II. rubrifrons). 



Bange. — Costa Rica to Colombia. (Two species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OP HETEROSPINGUS. 



a. General color black, more sooty beneath; supra-auricular tufts orange-red. 

 (Colombia and western Ecuador.) 



Heterospingus xanthopygius, adult male (p. 104) 

 aa. General color slate-gray above, paler gray below; no supra-auricular tufts. 

 (Isthmus of Panama to Costa Rica. ) 



Heterospingus rubrifrons, adult male and female (p. 104) 

 HeterospiugQS xauthopygias, female.^ 



'Not having seen the female of H. xanthopygius, I am unable to state in what 

 particulars, if any, it differs from H. rubrifrons. 



