106 TEOGLODTTID^. 



scapulii plumis nigria, medialiter sordide albo striolatis ; subtus ftilvido-albus, gula et abdomine medio 

 fere albis- crisso obsolete nigro notato; rostri maxilla fuaca, mandibula et pedibua pallide corylinis. 

 Long, tota 4-3, alse 1*75, caudse 1-75, rostri a rictu 0-6, tarsi 0-7. (Descr. feminse ex DueSas, Guatemala. 

 Mus. uostr.) 



Hal. Mexico, Orizaba (Sumichrasf ^'^) ; Guatemala, Lake of Duefias^e and grassy- 

 summit of Volcan de Agua (0. 8. & F. B. G.) ; Panama, Chiriqui {Arc6 s).— 



ECUADOB 11 1, PeEU 12?, BOLIVIA % BkAZIL 3, PARAGUAY 1. 



The question of the value of the differences between the North-American Cistothorm 

 stellaris and the Guatemalan bird called C. elegans has long been in dispute. After 

 being a party to the separation of the latter in 1859, Mr. Sclater in his 'Catalogue of 

 American Birds,' published in 1862, united it to C. stellaris, a course of proceeding 

 Prof. Baird in 1864 pronounced to be hasty, and accordingly granted C. elegans full specific 

 rank. In 1874, however, the same writer, with due deliberation and with apparently 

 the same materials before him, followed Mr. Sclater's footsteps of 1862. The facts of 

 the case appear to be as follows: — After making considerable allowance for variation in 

 the size of the bill and in the amount of the striation of the feathers of the head, there 

 still seems to remain as a tolerably permanent difference between the two birds the 

 colour of the lower back and rump, which in C. stellaris are marked with longitudinal 

 streaks like the back, and in G. elegans are more or less uniform fulvous-brown, occa- 

 sionally crossed with transverse bars*; the flanks, too, of the southern race are destitute 

 of any bars or spots, and the tarsi seem to be always longer. Guided by these tests we 

 trace C. elegans to Bolivia, whence we have a single specimen which has been already 

 called C. polyglottus \ raising the further question whether C. elegans is not after all 

 the southern C. polyglottus, a bird described by Azara i and named by Vieillot ^. Of 

 the latter bird we have a Nattererian specimen before us, obtained at Villa de Castro in 

 .1820, and a Brazilian example belonging to the National Museum at Washington 

 agreeing well together. The latter has already been set down, with doubt, as C. elegans. 

 The only difference of any note between these two birds and C. elegans is in size, the 

 wing, and especially the tarsi, being shorter in the Brazilian specimens. As the colour 

 of the flanks and lower back is the same in both, we are inclined to think that the 

 difference in dimensions is not sufficient to be considered of specific value. We are 

 further of opinion that C. cequatorialis of Lawrence ^ and C. graminicola of Tacza- 

 nowski 12 are very probably referable to the same species, filling-in, as they do, links in 

 its wide range. Lastly, with regard to the name of this Wren, if, as it seems to us by 

 no means improbable, the North-American bird should be united with the southern (as 

 has been already done by writers on North-American birds), C. polyglottus, proposed by 

 Vieillot in 1819, has several years priority, and under this title all the rest should sink 

 to synonyms. 



* These are exaggerated in the Plate. 



