VIEEO. 199 



B. Al(B breves, Cauda vix longiores aut paulo breviores ; remex primus magnus. (Vireo.) 



a. Alee acutiusculm. 



a'. Pileus niger. 

 13. Vireo atricapillus. 



Vireo atricapillus, Woodhouse, Pr. Ac. Phil. vi. p. 60'; Baird, U.S. Bound. Surv., Zool., Birds, 

 p. 13 =; Rev. Am. B. i. p. 353^; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 383 ^j Lawr. Mem. 

 Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 272 ' ; Deane, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iv. p. 58 « ; Brewster, Bull. Nutt. 

 Orn. Club, iv. p. 99^j Coues, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iv. p. 193, t. 1^ 



" Supra olivaeeo-virescens, capitis lateribus et pileo nigris ; alis et cauda supra nigricantibus olivaceo limbatis, 



tectrioibus alarum viridi-albo bifasciatis ; oculis albo conspicillatis ; subtus albus, hypochondriis olivaceis ; 



subalaribus et crisso (?) flavicantibus ; rostro uigro, pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota 4'75, al» 2-12, caudee 



1'95." (Descr. ex Baird, Brew. & Eidgw. i. p. 383, compilata.) 

 " 5 (potius av. juvenis). Capitis lateribus et pUeo obscure schistaceis nee nigris ; subtus ocbraceo tincta. 



(An avis alia?)" (Descr. exempl. ex Mazatlan, Mexico, ex Baird, Brew. & Eidgw. i. p. 383). 



Hal. NoETH America, South-western Texas i2367_ — Mexico, Mazatlan {Grayson'^^Y. 



The only actual claim of this species to a place in this work rests upon a specimen 

 obtained at Mazatlan by the late Col. A. J. Grayson. This is a female bird, differing 

 from the male in having the head dull slate-colour instead of black. At the time that 

 they placed this specimen here, the authors of the 'History of North-American Birds' 

 expressed a doubt as to their identification of it^. These doubts are much strengthened 

 by the fact, since brought to light '^, that the sexes in this species do not materially 

 differ in colour. The Mazatlan bird, therefore, must either belong to a different 

 species, or be in a state of plumage not yet satisfactorily explained. That the true 

 Y. atricapillus will be found along the northern frontier of Mexico can hardly be 

 doubted; but as yet it has only been met with in a very limited district on the 

 Texan side of the Kio Grande valley. Up to 1879 hardly any thing was known of 

 V. atricapillus, some three or four skins being all that had been obtained during the 

 twenty-eight years that had elapsed since its discovery. But in that year not only were 

 more specimens obtained, but its nest and eggs were also discovered, and observations 

 made on its habits, which now render its history fairly complete. The original specimens 

 of this species were obtained on the Rio San Pedro near El Paso by Dr. Woodhouse^; 

 and shortly afterwards another was shot by Mr. J. H. Clark of the Boundary Survey 2. 



The recent acquisitions are from Messrs. Eagsdale and Norris, an account of whose 

 captures is given by Mr. Euthven Deane «, and from Mr. Werner, to whom Mr. Brewster 

 acts sponsor^. Dr. Elliott Coues also reverts to the same subject, giving a plate of 

 two birds and their nest, the latter taken from a drawing by Mr. Werner ^. The nest 

 is described as pendent, as usual in the members of this family, and composed of dried 

 leaves and grass woven together with spiders' webs, and lined with fine grass and 

 rootlets. The eggs are described as being pure white, without spots of any kind. 



