8PEEM0PHILA. 351 



The prevailing colours of SpermopUla have been used to divide the genus into two 

 sections, according to whether the species are chiefly rufous and black, or black and 

 white; but this distinction is rather an artificial one, the last division being made 

 to include grey species like 8. grisea. 



1. Spermophila ndnuta. 



hoana minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 307 ^. 



Spermophila minuta, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y, vii. p. 333 "; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 352' j 1879, 



p. 506*; Scl. Ibis, 1871, p. 3"; Wyatt, Ibis, 1871, p. 328 "; v. Berlepscli, J. f. Om, 1884, 



p. 294'. 



Fuscesoenti-cinerea, alis oaudaque nigricantibus fusco limbatis ; speoulo alari et subalaribus albis ; uropygio 

 et corpore subtus testaoeo-rubris. Long, tota 3-6, alse 2-0, caudle 1'6, tarsi 0'55. 



5 . OHvaceo-fusca, alis oaudaque obscurioribus ; subtus pallide ocbiacea, ventre medio albicante. (Descr. maris 

 et feminsB ex Lion Hill, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



Eal. Panama, Lion Hill [M'Leannan ^ ^). — Colombia ^ ^ ; Venezuela ^ ; Guiana ^. 



This is a species of the northern portion of South America, which just enters our 

 fauna as far as the line of the Panama railway, beyond which we have not yet seen it. 

 Here, however, it is by no means uncommon, M'Leannan having sent us several 

 specimens, as well as others to Mr. Lawrence. We have examples from Eoraima sent 

 us by Mr. Whitely, and it has long been known as a bird of Cayenne, being figured by 

 D'Aubenton as the " Bouvreuil a ventre roux de Cayenne " more than a hundred years 

 ago. Mr. Sclater speaks of it, in his Monograph of SjpermopMla^, as found in the 

 islands of Tobago and Trinidad and on the mainland in Venezuela and Colombia. 

 In the latter country it was met with by Mr. Wyatt both at Ocana and Paturia in the 

 valley of the Magdalena ^, and by Salmon in the adjoining valley of the Cauca at Eetiro 

 and Medellin^. The last-named collector also found its nest, which he describes as like 

 that of S. gutturalis, and made of stems of coarse dry grass, rather loosely put together 

 and placed in a low bush about four or five feet from the ground. The eggs are 

 white, clearly marked with several shades of rich red-brown spots 4. The food of 

 8. minuta consists of seeds ^. 



Allusion has been made to the intensity of the chestnut colouring of the underparts ; 

 and Graf von Berlepsch says that a Surinam bird in his collection, the true 8. minuta 

 of Linnaeus, has this colour of a deeper tint than others from Venezuela and Bucara- 

 manga in Colombia. We also notice that a bird from British Guiana is the darkest in 

 our series. On the other hand, our male from Eoraima is exactly of the tint of the 

 Panama bird, and a male from Medellin is intermediate between the extremes. 



2. Spermophila torqueola. 



Spermophila torqueola, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 495 ' ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 303 ^ Ibis, 1871, p. 6' j 

 Duges, La Nat. i. p. 139 *j Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 276'. 



