158 MNIOTILTIDJE. 



Icteria .longicauda, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vi. p. 4"; Baird, U.S. Bound. Surv. ii. Birds, p. 10*' 



Rev. Am. B. i. p. 230". 

 Icteria longicaudata, Finsch, Abh. nat. Ver. z. Bremen, 1870, p. 331 ^'. 

 Icteria virens, var. longicauda, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 271 *°. 



Supra griseo-olivacea, alls efc cauda extus concoloribus ; stria utrinque rictali et altera superciliari a naribus 

 ducta albis, macula suboculari quoque alba ; subtus gutture toto, pectore et subalaribus flavis, abdomine 

 reliquo albo, hypocbondriis fusco lavatis, rostro nigro (vestitu hiemali ad mandibulse basin albicante)> 

 pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota 7'0, alae 3-3, caudae 3-3, rostri a rictu 0"75, tarsi 1*1. (Desor. exempl. ex 

 Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hub. United States, Eastern, Middle, and Western Provinces, Lower California '' ^. — 

 Mexico {Beppe'^^, SalW^"^), Mazatlan^^^e ^nd Tepic [Grayson'^^), Nuevo Leon 

 (Couch ^^), Guanajuato (Dug^s^% valley of Mexico (White ^^, le Strange), State of 

 Vera Cruz (Sumichrast ^), Jalapa (de Oca ^^), Playa Vicente (Boucard ^^), Chihuitan, 

 Santa Efigenia (Sumichrast % Merida, Yucatan (Schott ^) ; Guatemala ^^ ^o^ Retal- 

 huleu, Volcan de Fuego, Savana Grande, Polochic valley, Coban and Choctum 

 (O.S.&F.B.G.); Honduras, San Pedro (Q. M. Whitely^^); Costa Rica« 

 (Hoffmann ^^). 



Through their adhesion to the names of the tenth edition of Linnseus's 'Systema 

 Naturae ' by American authors, this bird now usually with them passes as Icteria virens. 

 In Europe it is better known as Icteria viridis, Gmelin's later but to us more lawful 

 appellation. Of other names bestowed upon it, Tanagra auricollis ^^ seems certainly 

 synonymous, as proved by Deppe's specimens in the Berlin Museum. The title 

 /. velasquezi, by which Bonaparte ^^ sought to distinguish the Guatemalan bird, also 

 falls under the same category, the difference in the colour of the mandible being almost 

 undoubtedly a seasonal feature. To the name Icteria hngicauda^^, bestowed in 

 1853 by Mr. Lawrence upon the bird of Western North America, more consideration 

 is due ; for western specimens seem always to have a tail some four tenths of an inch 

 longer than eastern ones, and the upper parts of the former are usually greyer in tint. 

 For several years the two birds were considered quite distinct ; but Dr. Cabanis, in 

 1860 ^S united them, a step to which Prof. Baird subsequently demurred ^. A few 

 years afterwards, however'^, the two races were partially united as "varieties" of one 

 species ; and this is the position at present accorded to them * ^. We here treat them 

 under one specific name, and its owner as a variable species, the tendency of the 

 western birds being to have longer tails and greyer backs than those from the eastern 

 portions of its range. As regards our territory, the eastern form seems to predominate, 

 the western being only found, according to Dr. Finsch and Mr. Lawrence, in North- 

 western Mexico 2^ 2^. 



In Southern Mexico J. viridis seems to be pretty generally distributed, spreading 

 across the continent from the shores of the Pacific at Tehuantepec to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. In Guatemala the same is the case, and we have records of its occurrence in 



