PAEULA. 121 



3. Parula insularis. 



Parula insularis, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. x. p. 4'; Mem. Bost. Soe. N. H. ii. p. 269''; Grayson, 

 Pr. Bost. Soe. N. H. xiv. pp. 278 ', 300*. 



Supra sordide cinerea, plaga dorsali oleaginea notata, genis clare cinereis ; alls albo bifasoiatis ; caudae rectri- 

 oibus utrinque extimis iu pogonio externo albo maculatis ; subtus sordide flava, crisso albo ; rostri maxilla 

 nigra, mandibida flavida ; pedibus corylinis. Long, tota 4-4, alee 2-1, caudae 1-85, rostri a rictu 0'55, tarsi 

 0-75. (Descr. exempli ex Socorro Island, Smiths. Inst. no. 50798. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Mexico, Tres Marias islands ^ ^ ^, Socorro island ^^ [Grayson). 



This species was discovered by the late Col. A. J. Grayson ; and all references relate 

 to his specimens, no other collector having met with it. The bird is allied to P. piti- 

 ayumi and P. inornata : like the former it has two white bands on the wing ; but it 

 differs in the more ashy tint of the blue of the upper plumage, and in the abdomen 

 being dull instead of clear yellow *. In both respects it differs from P. inornata, which 

 bird also is distinguished by the almost total absence of the white wing-bars. 



The Tres-Marias and Socorro birds are said to belong to the same species, only dif- 

 fering in the latter being a little larger. It is common in both localities, and in the 

 Marias may be seen and heard in every tree busily searching amongst the foliage for 

 insects, and often repeating a delicate little song ^. P. insularis has not yet been 

 detected on the mainland ; and, strange to say, none of the allied species are found within 

 five or six hundred miles of its home : of these the nearest, P. nigrilora, comes from the 

 valley of the Rio Grande, P. inornata from Guatemala, and P.pitiayumi from Colombia ! 



The specimen described is not quite adult, and the plumage of the upper and under 

 surfaces probably duller than in the mature bird. 



4. Parula nigrilora. 



Parula nigrilora, Coues, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. ll'j B. Col. Vail. i. p. 207'; Sennett, Bull. 

 U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 11', v. p. 384*; MerriU, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 123 \ 



" S suboaerulea, dorso medio virenti-flavo, alis albo bifasciatis, palpebris nigris immaculatis, loris lineaque 

 frontali nigerrimis ; subtus flava, jugulo aurantiaco, abdomine infimo; hypochondriis crissoque albis. 

 Long, tota 4-5, alee 2-0-2-2, oaudse 1-8-1-9, rostri a naribus •38--4, tarsi •62-66, dig. med. -4." (Coues, 

 I. s. e.') 



Eab. Valley of the Rio Grande, Hidalgo 1 2 3^ Lomita ^ (Sennett), Fort Brown (Merrill ^). 



Though the claim of this bird to Mexican citizenship has not been established, it can 

 hardly be doubted that it is to be found at least in the north-eastern parts of that country 

 and on 1;he south as well as on the north of the Rio Grande, where alone it has been 

 met with up to the present time. Mr. Sennett, the discoverer of this species at Hidalgo 



* In the ' History of North-American Birds ' (i. p. 207) the abdomen of P. insularis is stated to be wholly 

 white. This does not agree either with Mr. Lawrence's description or with the typical specimen before us. 



BIOL. CENT.-AMEE., Zool., Aves^ Vol. 1, August 1880. 16 



