198 VIEEONID^. 



birds here at this time of year indicates that they breed in some more northern locality, 

 which, however, has not yet been traced. The difference between V. cassini and 

 V. soUtarius is but slight, and consists chiefly in the head of the former being almost 

 the same colour as the back instead of grey, and in the breast being tinged with fawn 

 colour. These difierences are blended by intermediate specimens, according to writers 

 on North- American birds 2; but the extremes are sufficiently varied to justify each 

 bearing a distinctive title. 



12. Vireo pluinbeus. 



Vireo plumbeus, Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 74'; B. Col. Vail. i. p. 515^; Lawr. Mem. Best. Soc. 



N. H. ii. p.,272\ 

 Vireosylvia plumbea, Baird, Kev. Am. B. i. p. 349*. 

 Lanivireo solitarius, var. plumbeus, Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 377 '. 



Supra plumbeus, oculis albo eonspiciUatis ; alis et Cauda nigris, extus albo limbatis, illis albo bifasciatis ; subtus 

 albus, hypochondriis plumbeo lavatis ; rostro et pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota 5-0, alae 3'3, caudse 2-3, 

 rostri a rictu 0'6, tarsi 072. (Descr. exempl. ex Oaxaca, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. United States, Southern Rocky-Mountain region ^ ^, Arizona ^. — Mexico, plains of 

 Colima [Xantus'^^^), Oaxaca (Fenochio). 



The position of this bird appears to be not yet fully established, American orni- 

 thologists, to whom it is best known, differing as to whether it should be granted full 

 specific rank as V. plumbeus, which is Dr. Coues's (its discoverer's) view, or whether it is 

 still linked with V. solitarius, and should stand as V. solitarius plumbeus, as maintained 

 by Mr. Eidgway in his recent list of North-American birds (1881). Be this as it may, 

 the normal V. plumbeus is a bird easily to be distinguished from V. solitarius, and 

 therefore entitled to a name. 



As already stated. Dr. Coues discovered this bird, near Fort Whipple in Arizona ^, 

 where he found it in pine-woods during the summer, replacing V. solitarius at that 

 season of the year. It has also been traced to Laramie Peak ^, Colorado, New Mexico, 

 and Utah, thus embracing the southern portion of the Rocky-Mountain region. The 

 only recorded instance of its occurrence in Mexico is based upon a specimen obtained 

 by Xantus in the plains of Colima in February 1863 ^ 3 4 . ij^^ ^g j^^.^ have to mention 

 a second Mexican locality some distance further south, a Specimen having been sent us 

 some time ago from the vicinity of the town of Oaxaca by Don A. Fenochio. 



Little is recorded of the habits of V- plumbeus, which are said to resemble those of 

 V- solitarius. The nest and eggs taken by Mr. Aiken in Colorado are stated to be 

 substantially identical with those of its near ally. 



