•824 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



ever, out of a very large series of birds examined from northern Costa Rica, 

 I find none with the bill so large as the northern bird, typical guatemalensis, 

 while about half of the males are as bluish as the Terraba birds, the others 

 being greener, like the northern form. 



This is a very abundant bird in many parts of Costa Rica, especially 

 in the Rio Sucio gorge, around Carrillo and in the Terraba Valley. Its 

 range may be said to cover the whole country from a little above sea-level 

 up to 3,000 or 4,000 feet, but it is most numerous on either slope between 

 1,000 and 2,000 feet. It is found in flocks of considerable size when not 

 breeding, and feeds on various kinds of small fruits and berries in addition 

 to insects. 



636. Diglossa plumbea Cabanis. 



Diglossa plumbea Cabanis, Jour, fur Orn., VIII, i860, 411 (Volcan de Irazu ?, 

 Costa Rica [Frantzius]; coll. Berlin Museum). — Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., 

 IX, 1868, 97 (Quebrada Honda and San Juan de Irazu [Frantzius]). — Frant- 

 zius, Jour, fur Orn., 1869, 297 (Volcan de Irazu; Las Cruces de Candelaria 

 [Zeledon]). — Boucard, P. Z. S., 1878, 54 (Cartago, Juan Viflas, Volcan de 

 Irazu, and La Laguna, 4,000 to 8,000 feet). — Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 XI, 1886, 9 (Irazu district [Rogers]). — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.- 

 Ara., Aves, I, 1883, 243, pi. 15a, figs. 1 and 2 (Costa Rican references). — 

 Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. de C. R., I, 1887, 108 (Volcan de Irazu). — Cherrie, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, 1891, 529 (descr. of young). — Ridgway, Birds 

 N. and Mid. Amer., II, 1902, 381 (highlands of Costa Rica and Chiriqui). 



U. S. Nat. Museum: Volcan de Turrialba (Ridgway and Zeledon), San 

 Juan de Irazu (Ridgway and Alfaro), La Lagunaria, El Copey, Las 

 Vueltas, and Santa Maria de Dota (Basulto). 

 Bangs Collection: Volcan de Irazu and Azahar de Cartago (Under- 

 wood). 

 C. H. Lankester Collection: Volcan de Poas. 

 Fleming Collection: Azahar de Cartago, Escazii, and La Palma de San 



Jose (Underwood). 

 Carnegie Museum: Volcan de Irazu, Volcan de Turrialba, and Ujurras 

 de Terraba (Carriker). Seven skins. 



This curiously aberrant honey-creeper is found only at high altitudes, 

 being only an occasional straggler below 6,000 feet, and is most abundant 

 between 8,000 feet and timber-line on the high volcanoes. I usually saw 

 them in pairs, and do not believe they are inclined to be so gregarious as 

 the other species of the family. I found them rather low down in the 

 forest or in the trees scattered about through the pastures on Irazu and 

 Turrialba. A single male was seen and secured on the crest of the con- 



