400 PEINaiLLID^. 



gatis, griseo-albis ; subtus gula et abdomine medio albis, hypoohoiidriis eb crisso fuBcis ; campterio alari 

 flavo ; rostro nigro, pedibus coryHnis. Long, tota 8*0, alas 3"5, caudae 4-0, rostri a rietu 0-75, tarsi l-l. 

 (Descr. maris ex Oaxaca, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 

 5 mari omnino simiKs. 



Hah. Mexico 12 4^ £a_ Parada {Boucard^), Oaxaca (Fenochio), alpine region of Vera 

 Cruz (Sumichrast ''), Jalapa (de Oca ^ ®). 



Though this species has been long known, having been described by DuBus in 1847, 

 from specimens in the Brussels Museum obtained in Mexico, it must be considered 

 a rare bird in collections, and but few specimens have come under our notice. 

 Sumichrast says that it is exclusively confined in its range to the alpine region of the 

 State of Vera Cruz, where it is generally diflFused throughout the pine-woods and 

 mountains of Orizaba, where it is resident. The limits of the zone within which it is 

 found range from 5000 to 10,000 feet. He adds that the plumage and habits of this 

 bird present a remarkable analogy to those of Buarremon brunneinuchus. Both are 

 ground-birds rather than perchers, and frequently meet together in the same localities. 



Buarremon ocai of Lawrence is, we believe, undoubtedly a synonym of this species, 

 which was little known at the time Mr. Lawrence described it in 1865. 



PYRGISOMA. 



Pyrgisoma, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. i. p. 486 (1850) . 



Including Pyrgisoma kieneri, concerning the habitat of which there is some doubt, 

 six species of Pyrgisoma are found within our limits — one or two in Mexico, two in 

 Guatemala, and two in Costa Eica, none of them probably being common to any two 

 of these districts. Besides these, two species occur in Peru, which Mr, Sclater (Ibis, 

 1885, p. 275) considers belong to Pyrgisoma, though one of them has been placed in 

 Buarremon and the other in Pipilo. 



Pyrgisoma is evidently related to Pipilo, having much in common both as regards the 

 form of the bill, the shortness of the wings, and other characters suitable for a terrestrial 

 mode of life. But the coloration is divergent, and more suggestive of a connection 

 with the Tanagrine genus Buarremon, which contains birds of very similar habits. 

 Indeed it has long been evident that the status of these and some other allied forms 

 requires careful revision. This is an undertaking outside the scope of this faunistic 

 work. 



The bill of Pyrgisoma {P, Uarcuatum) is moderately stout, the culmen slightly arched, 

 the nostril at the lower anterior end of the nasal fossa with a membrane above ; beneath 

 the nostrils the maxilla is rather tumid ; the tomia is slightly angular and sinuated, 

 and near the distal end is a faintly indicated notch ; the rictal bristles are short but 

 strong ; the wing is much rounded, the fourth quill the longest, the third equals the 

 fifth, the second equal to the outer secondaries, which are considerably longer than the 



