COTUENICULTJS, 385 



Mr. Kidgway has divided Coturniculus passerims into two races, calling the bird of 

 the Western Provinces, which is somewhat paler, C. p. perpallidus ». He places the 

 Mexican and West Indian birds with the true 0. passerinus ; but one of our Mexican 

 specimens is as pale as another, marked by Mr. Kidgway himself as C. perpallidus, 

 whereas our Guatemalan examples are the darkest of our series. There can hardly be 

 a doubt that the light and pale form blend imperceptibly, and we therefore use the 

 term C. passerinus in a wide sense to embrace them both. 



That C. tixicrus of Gosse from Jamaica is the same bird is now generally, and we 

 think rightly, admitted ; and Swainson's A. Umaculatus also belongs here, as the 

 evidence of a type in the Cambridge Museum places beyond question. 



In Mexico C. passerinus is said to be a winter visitor, and is at that season pretty 

 generally distributed from the sea-coast near Mazatlan and Tehuantepec to the high- 

 lands of the State of Vera Cruz. In Guatemala we found it near Sakluk in an open 

 savanna at an elevation of about 500 feet, and near Coban upwards of 4000 feet above 

 the sea, but always in grassy meadows. 



In Jamaica it is said by the late Mr. March to breed in considerable numbers ^, but 

 in Cuba Dr. Gundlach says that it is migratory, arriving from the United States in 

 autumn i^. 



In the latter country it is a common species, but less familiar than it might be owing 

 to its very skulking habits. It is resident in the Southern States, but elsewhere either a 

 summer visitor or a bird of passage i^. Its note is described as not unlike the chirp of 

 a grasshopper ^. It builds on the ground in a tussock of grass, the nest being made of 

 dry grasses and lined with fine bents and horsehair. The eggs are crystal white, 

 sprinkled with marks of reddish brown ^ ^^. 



2. Coturniculus petemcus^ (Tab. XXVIII. fig. 2.) 



Ammodromus petenicus, Salv. P. Z. S. 1863, p. 189^; Ibis, 1866, p. 193 ^ 

 Coturniculus (?) petenicus, Ridgw. Ibis, 1884, p. 44 \ 



Supra nigricans, plumis omnibus fusco limbatis, loris sordide albidis ; subt.us albidus, cervicis lateribus, pectore et 

 hypochondriis pallide fuscis, stria utrinque rictali nigra, campterio alari flavido ; rostro corneo, pedibus 

 paUide corylinis. Long, tota 5-0, ate 2-2, eaudse 2-15, rostri a rictu 0-45, tarsi 0-75. (Descr. feminae 

 typ. ex Poctun, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Hab. Guatemala, Pine-ridge of Poctun near Peten {0. S.^). 



The single female specimen shot by Salvin in March 1863, in the above locality, is 

 the only one we have yet seen of this species. We have looked in vain for it in 

 collections from Yucatan, where it may reasonably be expected to be found in the grassy 

 savanas of that region. 



The alliances of C. petenicus are no doubt with the South American C. manimbe, and 

 Mr. Eidgway tells us that it much resembles the form of that bird called by him 

 C. m. dorsalis. It lacks, however, the yellow lores, the upper plumage is darker, there 



BiQL. CENTB.-AMEK., Aves, Vol. I., June 1886. 49 



