PITYLU8. 331 



proposed for birds found within the area indicated above. We also believe that the 

 island birds S. martinicensis and ;iS'. guadalv^pemis vsdll probably be found inseparable 

 from S. albicollis when a good series of specimens are compared. Mr. Sclater has 

 already expressed his inability to distinguish between S. martinicensis and S. guada- 

 Iv^pensis ^. 



Though we place all the continental birds under the name S. alMcollis, there is a 

 certain amount of variation observable in different individuals. The colour of the bill 

 has been used as a differential character, but this most certainly is only an individual 

 one. The amount of striation on the chest is another variable character ; but this, 

 too, is not localized, though Colombian specimens have perhaps less than those from 

 Panama. 



Salmon obtained the eggs of this species in the Colombian State of Antioquia ; these 

 he describes as pale greenish blue, with a zone of fine black lines round the larger end^. 

 This description agrees well with that given by Grayson of the eggs of Saltator 

 flwmbeiceps. 



PITYLUS. 



Pitylus, Cuv. E^gne An. i. p. 413 (1829) ; Sclater, P.Z. S. 1856, p. 64 



Pitylus is another Neotropical genus, containing nine species, three of which are 

 found within our limits, two being peculiar, and one (P. grossus) having an extensive 

 range over the northern parts of South America, 



Of the peculiar species, P. celcem of Mexico has no near ally, but perhaps comes 

 near to P. erythromilas of Guiana. P. poliogaster represents the Guianan and Brazilian 

 P. viridis and P. hrasiliensis, but has perhaps a nearer ally in P. hmneralis of Colombia 

 and Ecuador. 



In Pitylus we have the extreme Fringilline development of the bill in the Tanagridae, 

 as in size it almost equals that of some members of Coccothrmstes. It is short, high, 

 with a strongly arched culmen ; the commissure is prominently sinuated in the middle, 

 the subterminal notch being also well developed. The wings are short; the tail 

 moderate, rounded in P. grossus, nearly square in P. poliogaster ; the tarsi are short, 

 the birds being strictly arboreal. 



1. Pitylus grossus. 



Loxia grossa, Liim. Syst. Nat. i. p. 307 ^ 



Pitylus arosms, Cab. in Schomb. Eeise n. Guiana, iii. p. 677 ^ Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 64^; 1857, 



p 264*; 1860, p. 293 = ; Cassin, Pr. Ac. PMl. 1860, p. 140°; 1865, p. 170'; Lawr. Aim. 



Lye N Y vii. p. 298 «; ix. p. 102'; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 352 -; 1873, p. 185" ; 



1879, p. 505 " ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 141 " ; Ibis, 1872, p. 317 " ; Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 220 - ; 



Tacz.P.Z.S. 1874, p. 518". 



42* 



