218 AMPELID^. 



rostro et pedibus nigris. long, tota 8-0, ate 3-75, caudse 4-15, rostri a rictu 0-7, tarsi 0-65, (Descr. 

 maris ex Parada, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 

 Pemina fuscescens, subtus dilutior, fronte, mento et oculorum ambitu albis, abdomine imo et macula caudali 

 sicut in mare albis, crisso luteo. (Descr. feminse ex Oaxaca, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Mexico 4 5 {Beppe^^ J. Mann ^^), Tablelands {Bullock^), Eeal del Monte (/. 

 Taylor 3), Guanajuato [Luges ^% Sierra Madre, near Colima (Xanfus ^^ ^^), valley of 

 Mexico {White ^, le Strange), Cordova ii, Orizaba {Botteri^^), Alpine region of 

 Vera Cruz and valley of Orizaba {Sumichrast ^^), Jalapa {de Oca''), La Parada 

 {Boucard% Oaxaca [FenocUo); Guatemala {Constancia^ ^^), Volcan de Fuego 

 {0. S.^% Duenas {0. S. & F. J). G.^^), Volcan de Agua, Sumpango {0. S. & 

 F. D. 0.), Barranco Hondo and ridge above Totonicapam {0. S.). 



This pretty species was first sent to Europe by Bullock, and was included, so Swainson 

 tells us 2, in the list of the species characterized by him in 'An Appendix to the 

 Catalogue of Bullock's Mexican Museum,' published in 1824. We have seen a copy of 

 this catalogue, but not the appendix. The first formal publication of the species was 

 probably that in Swainson's paper in the 'Philosophical Magazine 'i, which was written 

 after, but published before, the article in the 'Zoological Journal' i^. Soon after this 

 it was described and figured by Temminck, in the ' Planches Coloriees,' under the title 

 Hypothymis chrysorrhoa ^^ ; and about the same time Deppe obtained the specimens now 

 in the Berlin Museum ^^. Since then P. cinereus has been observed by most collectors 

 who have visited the highlands of Mexico, its northernmost recorded localities being 

 Guanajuato and the Sierra Madre, near Cnlima. In the State of Vera Cruz Prof. 

 Sumichrast says that, though it is found as low as 4000 feet in the valley of Orizaba, 

 it is by rights a bird of the alpine region, where it ascends to a height of nearly 

 10,000 feet. In Guatemala we found it in the tablelands of the interior, but only the 

 main cordillera and on the high volcanoes which stretch towards the Pacific *. Here 

 it occurs from an elevation of 10,500 feet in the mountain-ridges above Totonicapam, 

 in the Altos of Guatemala, down to an elevation of nearly 4000 feet between the 

 volcanoes of Agua and Fuego. In the last-named mountain we used often to observe 

 it frequenting oak trees in the outskirts of an opening of the forest, where it would fly 

 after and seize insects in the air, and where also it doubtless feeds on the berries of the 

 different species of mistletoe which abound in such localities, as well as other fruits. 



There is a slight difference between Mexican and Guatemalan specimens of P. cinereus 

 to be noticed in the plumage of adult male birds. The latter have rather less white on 

 the chin ; the cinereous colour of the under surface is rather darker ; the flanks are rather 

 richer olive-colour ; and there is, perhaps, a little less white on the lower belly. These 

 differences are worthy of note, but they are hardly sufficient for specific distinction. 



Nothing is recorded of the breeding-habits of this species ; but we have a bird in 



* The locality " Coban," given by Salvin "", on the authority of V. Constancia, we now believe to be erro- 

 neous, though the bird might well be found in the higher mountains of Vera Paz. 



