THETOPHILUS. 87 



transmitted by Mr. Skinner to Mr. Gould from Guatemala. In our description of this 

 specimen its origin is put down as Vera Paz ; but we now think that it more probably 

 came from that part of Guatemala which borders the Pacific Ocean. We have, 

 however, never seen a second Guatemalan example; and our surmise as to the 

 origin of the type is derived from the fact that neither in Mexico nor in more southern 

 countries has the species ever been found far from the Pacific, it having been fre- 

 quently met with on the shores of that ocean. 



In Mexico, T. plev/rostictus, though never observed in the eastern parts of the 

 country, nor yet in Oaxaca, was obtained near San Juan del Eio by M. Kebouch in 

 some numbers ^ ; and at Tehuantepec it would appear to be by no means uncommon *. 

 Prof. Sumichrast, who describes its habits, speaks of its activity and tameness. Its nest, 

 he says, is made of the fine stems of dry grasses, which are woven into the shape of a 

 retort, and lined with hair and the seeds of a Bomhax. This structure is placed in a 

 bush, or in the fork of two branches. The eggs, three to five in number, are of a beau- 

 tiful greenish-blue colour. It first came under our observation near La Union, when 

 descending the volcano of Conchagua. A pair were then observed in the brushwood 

 skirtiag the town of La Union. It was afterwards seen at San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, 

 in the thin scrub on the shores of the bay. Other Nicaraguan examples examined by 

 us were in the possession of General Baxter, at one time American Minister to Central 

 America, who obtained them near the port of Corinto. The Costa-E.ican specimens in 

 our possession were obtained by Arce on the shores of the Gulf of Mcoya, and are 

 those alluded to by Mr. Lawrence in his list of Costa-Eican birds^. 



8. ThryophHus nisorius. 



Troglodytes nisorius, Lictt. Mus. Berol. et Nomencl. p. 34 ^ (descr. nulla) . 

 Thryothorus nisorius, Scl. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 591, t. 45 ^ 



Supra laste rufus, alls caudaque nigro regulariter transfasciatis, superciliis elongatis albis, capitis lateribus 

 albis nigro Tariegatis ; subtus albus nigro ubique transfasciatus, teotricibus subalaribus albo nigroque 

 variegatis ; rostro et pedibus comeis. Long, tota 5-5, alsB 2*7, caudse 2-2, tarsi 0-85. (Descr. Sclateriana 

 exempl. ex Eeal Ariba, Mexico. Mus. Berol.) 



Eab. Mexico, Eeal Ariba {Beppe ^ ^). 



This Wren is a near ally of T. plewostictus, from which it mainly difiiers in having 

 the under surface barred throughout with black, instead of only on the flanks and 

 crissum as in its near relative. This difference, though sufiiciently apparent in the 

 type, is not great ; and an examination of a larger series of specimens may prove that 

 the two species are not really separable. At present the single example obtained by 

 Deppe, and now in the Berlin Museum, is the only one we have met vsdth. This stood 

 for many years under an unpublished name of Lichtenstein's, until Mr. Sclater described 

 and figured it in 1869. 



