VIEEO. 197 



sometimes over the whole surface, but oftener chiefly at the larger end 'I Brewer 

 describes its song as peculiar, being a frequent repetition of the same notes. 



Eegarding the bird from Cohan, in Guatemala, described by Prof. Baird as Vireo- 

 sylvia propinqua ^^, we are in some doubt as to its position, as we have never seen a 

 second specimen presenting the same differences from Vireo solitarius that Prof. Baird's 

 type does, which we have again before us for examination. These differences are as 

 follows : — The grey of the head is more restricted, the olive colour of the back extending 

 over the nape and to behind the ears ; the upper tail-coverts are ashy instead of olive ; 

 the sides of the throat are yellow instead of white ; the flanks are white tinged with 

 olive, not olive-green tinged with yellow; the anal region is white, not yellow; the 

 spurious primary is much smaller, and the second quill longer instead of shorter than 

 the fifth ; the wing is slightly longer, and the bill broader at the base. These are the 

 differences pointed out by Prof. Baird ; and we find that they are all as he describes 

 them. They are all small individually, but taken together are certainly remarkable ; 

 and it is noteworthy that they nearly all are slight divergences from the typical 

 F. solitarius in the direction of V.flavifronsl Have we here the remains of some cross 

 between these two birds % The type of V. propinquus was obtained with numbers of 

 the true V. solitarius and V. flavifrons at their winter quarters near Coban ; and the 

 discrepancies from V. solitarius were not noticed at the time, nor, indeed, till Prof. 

 Baird pointed them out. That a resident local race of V. solitarius exists in Guate- 

 mala 13 we hesitate to believe until further evidence can be produced ; and in the mean- 

 time we leave V. propinquus in an uncertain position, with the above suggestion as to 

 its origin. 



11. Vireo cassini. 



Vireo cassinii, Xantus, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1858, p. 117\ 



Lanwireo solitarius, var. cassini, Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 376 ^ 



Vireo solitarius cassini, Cones, B. Col. Vail. i. p. 514'. 



Vireosylvia solitaria, Salv. Cat. Strickl. Col. p. 112* (partim). 



V. soUtario similis, sed pileo cinereo olivaceo tincto fere dorso concolori efc pectore pallide fulvo perfiiso vix 

 distinguendns. (Desor. exempl. ex Mexico. Mus. Ac. Cantabr.) 



Hab. NoKTH Amekica, California ^ 2, Nevada 2, Arizona.^.— M-exigo (Galeotti^). 



A single skin in the Strickland collection, sent from Mexico by Galeotti in 1845, we 

 recognize as belonging to this race, as it agrees with authentic specimens from Calaveras 

 county, California, recently forwarded to us by Mr. Ridgway. The bird would appear 

 to be not uncommon in the Gila valley, where Mr. Henshaw met with it at the end of 

 August and in September, in company with but rarer than V. solitarius, the only 

 difference in the habits of the two birds being the preference of the former for 

 deciduous trees, the latter choosing the coniferous timber ^. The appearance of these 



