458 ICTEEID^. 



obliterate all grounds for separation. As regards its distribution, S. magna probably 

 occurs in suitable places over the greater part of North, Central, and Northern South 

 America, and probably few open grassy meadows and savannas are without its presence ; 

 as these are scattered at short intervals throughout the whole of the wide area indi- 

 cated above, no great gaps occur in its range. As our list of localities shows, in 

 Mexico and Central America S. magna must be a very common species : we met with 

 it ourselves on the plains near Duenas, where some pairs certainly remain to breed ; 

 this was at an elevation of nearly 5000 feet. It also occurs in the savannas of the 

 department of Peten, which are less than 1000 feet above the sea. In North America 

 it is partially migratory, at least in some portions of the country ; in Guatemala we 

 observed it to be more abundant in the winter months, but this may be from the 

 habit the bird has of collecting in small flocks during that season. The nest of 

 this species is always placed on the ground, and usually sheltered in a thick tuft of 

 grass, to which a covered passage of withered grass is built. The eggs are white, 

 ^ freckled and dotted with irregular dark spots of reddish brown, which are either 



generally distributed over the whole surface or collected about the larger end. 



LEISTES. 



Leistes, Vigors, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 191 (1826) ; Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 348. 



Leistes is a southern genus containing only two closely allied species, one of which 

 just enters our fauna in the State of Panama, the genus itself being represented over 

 the greater part of South America, as far south as the Argentine Eepublic. The bill of 

 L. guianensis has the mesorhinium slightly elevated and just perceptibly flattened, the 

 nostril is at the lower extremity of the nasal fossa, and above it is a distinct tumid 

 membranous operculum, much as in the genus Sturnella, with which the general style 

 of the plumage shows some points of analogy ; the bill, however, is comparatively much 

 shorter and stouter, the tarsi weaker, and the middle secondaries less developed than in 

 that genus. The wings are short and rounded, the second, third, and fourth are the 

 longest quills, the first slightly exceeds the fifth ; the tail is short and the rectrices acute. 

 The longest secondaries are considerably longer than the shortest primaries, and there 

 is considerable diversity in the coloration of the sexes. 



Mr. Sclater places Leistes with the Agelseinse, but we are confident it is best associated 

 Mdth the Stumellinse. 



1- Leistes guianensis. 



Oriolus guianensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 162 \ 



Leistes guianensis, Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 191'; Ibis, 1885, p. 218'; Tacz. Orn. Per. ii. p, 427*; 



Scl. Ibis, 1884, p. 21 '; Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 348 \ 

 Tanagra militaris, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 316 '. 

 Leistes militaris, Cass. Proc. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 14 ^ 



