888 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



more thickly about the larger end, forming a wreath. Measurements: 

 16. 5X12.5; 16.5x13 mm. 



721. Sporophila aurita (Bonaparte). 



S p[ermo phila] aurita Bonaparte, Consp. Av., I, 1850, 497 ("Brazil"). 

 Spermophila aurita Boucard, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1878, 58 (San Mateo, 



one cf). — Zeledon, Cat. Aves de C. R., 1882, 8. — Salvin and Godman, 



Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, I, 1885, 354 (Costa Rica [Hoffmann and Frantzius]). 



— Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XII, 1888, 133 (Costa Rica). 

 Sporophila aurita Cherrie, Expl. Zool. en Costa Rica, 1 891-2, 28 (Terraba and 



Buenos Aires). — Ridgway, Birds N. and Mid. Am., I, 1901, 573 (Guatemala, 



Costa Rica [San Mateo, Terraba, Buenos Aires], Chiriqui, Veragua, Isthmus 



of Panama). — Bangs, Auk, XXIV, 1907, 311 (Boruca, Paso Real, El Pozo, 



and Barranca de Terraba [Underwood]). 

 Sporophila hoffmanni Cabanis, Jour, fur Orn., IX, Jan., 1861, 6 (Costa Rica). 

 Spermophila hoffmanni Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., IX, 1868, 102 (Costa 



Rica).— Frantzius, Jour, fur Orn., 1869, 301 (Costa Rica). — Zeledon, Cat. 



Aves de C. R., 1882, 8. 

 Spermophila semicollaris Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y., VIII, 1863 (Lion Hill, 



Panama [coll. G. N. Lawrence]). 



U. S. National Museum: Pigres (Zeledon) (Ridgway). 

 Bangs Collection: Pozo Azul de Pirris, Buenos Aires, El General de Ter- 

 raba, and Bolson (Underwood). 

 Carnegie Museum: Buenos Aires, Boruca, El Pozo de Terraba, and Pozo 

 Azul de Pirris (Carriker), Pozo Azul (Underwood). Seventeen skins. 

 "The series is remarkably uniform in coloration, all being referable to 

 the form described as Spermophila semicollaris Lawrence. All the Costa 

 Rican birds in other collections examined likewise belong to this phase, 

 while the specimens from Panama show great variation. A female from 

 Boruca (July 22), provisionally referred here, is deep buffy below, very 

 much like the specimen of S. giitturalis from El Pozo, but with a decidedly 

 smaller bill." (W. E. C. Todd.) 



The Costa Rican range of this species is confined to the southwestern 

 portion of the country, it being most abundant in the Terraba Valley, and 

 diminishing in numbers northward. It is still fairly common at Pozo Azul 

 de Pirris and is rarely taken up along the Gulf of Nicoya and in southern 

 Guanacaste. In these regions it seems to have entirely taken the place 

 of the common eastern form, S. corvina, and is abundant along the grass- 

 grown river-banks, along the borders of the "sabanas," and in the bushy 

 pastures. No nests were observed, as the breeding season had passed. 



