444: BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



MELOZONE LEUCOTIS Cabanis. 

 WHITE-EARED GROUND SPARROW. 



Adult {sexes alike). — Lores, orbital ring (interrupted in front), spot 

 in center of auricular region, and abdomen white; rest of head, includ- 

 ing chin and throat, black; sides of neck and edge of wing yellow: 

 upper parts plain olive-brownish, becoming grayer on upper back, 

 more decidedly brown on tertials and tail, more olive-greenish on 

 edges of secondaries and primaries; sides grajnsh, passing into brown 

 on flanks; under tail-coverts light cinnamon; center of chest with a 

 large and irregular spot of black, sometimes confluent with black of 

 throat, but usualh^ (?) separated from it by a more or less complete 

 band of white, or white and rusty; bill black; legs and feet brownish. 



Toung. — Much duller in color than adults; head dark soot}' brown, 

 with the white markings of the adult barely indicated; back, scapu- 

 lai's, rump, and upper tail-coverts brown (duller, more olivaceous, 

 anteriorly, brighter, more mummy brown, posteriorly), the back and 

 scapulars indistinctly streaked with dusky; under parts chiefly light 

 tawny brown posteriorly, deeper, more sooty, brown anteriorly, the 

 median portion.of breast and bell}' whitish; the darker brown of chest, 

 sides of breast, etc. , irregularl}^ flecked with dusky. 



AduU mrde.—Length (skins), 150.11-172.47 (161.29); wing, 74.17- 

 79.25 (76.71); tail, 64.26-65.53 (65.02); exposed culmen, 14.22-14.73 

 (14.48); depth of bill at base, -9.40-9.65 (9.52); tarsus, 26.16-27.94 

 (27.18); middle toe, 19.56-20.07 (19.81).' 



Ad^dt female.— Length (skins), 155.19-166.62 (161.04); wing, 74.17- 

 78.74 (76.45); tail, 63.75-65.02 (64.52); exposed culmen, 14.73; depth 

 of bill at base, 9.40-10.16 (9.91); tarsus, 26.42-27.43 (26.92); middle 

 toe, 19.30-20.32 (19.81).' 



Highlands of Costa Rica (San Jose, Angostura, Guiatil, San Juan, 

 Cartago, etc.) and Nicaragua (Chontales).' 



Melozone feucoJis Cabanis, Journ. fiir Orn., viii, Nov., 1860, 413 (Costa Rica; Ber- 

 lin Mus.). — Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., ix, 1868, 103 (San Jos6, Angostura, 

 Guiatil, and San Juan, Costa Rica). — Frantzivs, Journ. fiir Orn., 1869, 302 

 (Guiatil, Costa Rica). 



Melozone leucote Cassin, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1865, 169 (Costa Rica). 



Pi/rgisoma leucote Sclater, Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 120 (Costa Rica); Ibis, 1873, 373, 

 (Chontales, Nicaragua). — Sclater and Salvix, Proc. Zool. Soe. Lond., 1868, 

 326, part (Costa Rica); Exotic Orn., 1868, 128, part (Costa Rica). — Boucard, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1878, 56 (Cartago and San Jos6, Costa Rica). — Sal- 

 viN and GoDMAN, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, i, 1886, 403. — Zeledon, An. Mus. 

 Nac. Costa Rica, i, 1887, 112 (Cartago; San Jos^; Guiatil). — Sharpe, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus., xii, 1888, 736. 



' Two specimens. 



^ No Nicaragua specimen examined by me. 



