280 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
SITTASOMUS SYLVIOIDES SYLVIOIDES Lafresnaye. 
MEXICAN SITTASOMUS.« 
Adults (sexes alike).—Pileum and hindneck plain grayish olive, the 
sides of head and under parts (except under tail-coverts) similar but 
lighter; back and scapulars uniform russet, sometimes slightly tinged 
with olive, passing on rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail into clear 
deep cinnamon-rufous; wing-coverts similar in color to back and 
scapulars, but with an indistinct central area of grayish olive; secon- 
daries deep cinnamon-rufous, with a large subterminal area (not cross- 
ing outer web) of dull black or dusky, this sharply defined anteriorly 
against a basal area of clear buff or ochraceous-buff on inner web; proxi- 
mal (shorter) primaries similarly colored, but dusky subterminal area 
not so dark (more sooty brownish), cinnamon-rufous tip narrower and 
duller, and basal portion of outer web duller (dull ochraceous or cin- 
namon); distal (longer) primaries with outer web cinnamon, the 
three outermost with inner webs wholly dusky; alula and primary 
coverts grayish brown; axillars buff; under wing-coverts and broad 
oblique band across inner webs of remiges deep cream-buff or light 
ochraceous-buff; under tail-coverts cinnamon-rufous, the flanks 
sometimes tinged with the same; maxilla dusky horn color, paler 
along tomium; mandible paler with terminal portion dusky; iris 
brown; legs and feet horn color or dusky (in dried skins). 
a The utter impossibility of inventing English names for all of the thousands of 
species and subspecies of birds found in Tropical America necessitates the occasional 
use of the Greek or Latin generic name in cases where there is no native vernac- 
ular name to take the place of an English one. Unfortunately the native language 
is often very poor in bird-names, many diverse kinds being often grouped under one 
term, as céme-maiz (corn-eater) for sparrows in general, or else the names in general 
use are borrowed from extremely different European birds. In Costa Rica, for 
example, the Spanish name gorrién (sparrow) is universally applied and practically 
restricted to hummingbirds, that of caldndria (lark) to the three-caruncled bell-bird, 
and that of jilguéro (linnet) to the Myadestes of that country. 
The author is well aware that there are persons who imagine that the English 
language is equal to any emergency and resent the use of anything else; but the 
views of such would surely change were they to attempt the task of naming in Eng- 
lish terms all of the American birds alone that are not already thus named. 
