BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 261 



by a distinct dusky submalar streak; sides of liead, except as described, 

 grayish brown, relieved by a postocular streak or narrow stripe of 

 chestnut brown ; chest, sides, and flanks dull grayish bufl' or pale wood 

 brown, the flanks with indistinct, mostlj- concealed, hastate streaks of 

 dusky; under tail-coverts clearer bufl:; maxilla dusky brown, paler 

 along totnium; mandible pale brownish (lilaceous or pinkish gray in 

 life?); legs and feet pale brownish. Length (skin), 127.00; wing, 55. S8; 

 tail, 53.34; the lateral feathers about 12.70 shorter; exposed culmen, 

 12.70; depth of bill at base, 7.11; tarsus, 20.07; middle toe, 14.99. 

 Northern Guatemala (Peten district). 



Ainuyphila iotterii petenica resembles very closely at first glance 

 darker-colored examples of the South American Myospiza 'iiuDiimhe 

 (Lichtenstein), but differs very much in structural characters, the wing 

 being much more rounded (ninth primary shorter than third, instead 

 of longer than fourth), the tail strongly rounded, almost graduated, 

 instead of moderately double-rounded, the tarsus much shorter, and the 

 toes relatiyelj^ longer. The coloration is verj' much the same, but A. 

 1). petenica is considerably darker, both above and below, has the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts heavily spotted with blackish, has the wing 

 edge paler yellow, and lacks entirely an}^ yellow above the lores. 



The resemblance to A. I>. sartorii, from Vera Cruz and Chiapas, is 

 still closer, the coloration being practicallj' identical, and I strongly 

 suspect that when a series from the Peten district shall have been com- 

 pared it may not be possible to maintain the distinctness of the two 

 supposed forms. (See comparison of measurements on page 260.) 



Ammodromus petenicus Salvix, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1863, 189 (plains of Peten, 

 n. e. Guatemala; coll. Salvin and Godman) ; Ibia, 1866, 193 (do. ). — Ridgway, 

 Ibis, 1884, 44 (crit.).— Shaepe, Cat. Birds Brit. JIus., xii, 1888, 694. 



\_Aminodramus] pelenicus Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 96, no. 7419. 



[Ammodromus'] petenicus Sclatee and Salvin, Nom. Av. Xeotr., 1873, 32. 



Coturnicidus petenicus Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, i, 1886, 385, 

 pi. 28, fig. 2 (pine ridge of Poctum, near Peten). 



Aimophila petenica Kidgway, Auk, xv, July (pub. May 14), 1898, 227, in text. 



Genus AMPHISPIZA Coues. 

 Amphispiza Coues, Birds Northwest, 1874, 234. (Type, Emberiza billneata Cassin. ) 



Small terrestrial Fringillidse, with the tail shorter than the wing but 

 more than three times as long as tarsus; outermost (ninth) primary 

 not shorter than third; primaries exceeding secondaries by much more 

 than length of exposed culmen, and color plain gray or grayish brown 

 above, with or without narrow black streaks on back, the under parts 

 mostly white, with or without black throat-patch. 



Bill small (exposed culmen not more than half as long as tarsus, 

 depth at base less than length of gonys and little, if any, greater than 

 its width) ; culmen nearly straight, but faintly convex terminally and 

 basally; gonys straight or very faintly convex, shorter than maxilla 

 from nostril; maxillaiy tomium nearly straight, but very faintly con- 



