PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 101 



There is also much variation as to the markings of the lower parts; 

 usually, these are very numerous, and extremely ragged and zigzag, 

 consequently appearing much confused ; in two specimens, however, 

 one from Choctum, Vera Paz, the other from Bahia, Brazil (Wucherer), 

 the transverse markings are much fewer, wider apart, and more 

 regular, the average interval being, in the latter specimen, as much as 

 .25 of an iuch ! 



The most aberrant specimen in the series is one from Chiriqui ("Arce, 

 1873"), which, however, appears, from the texture of its plumage, to be 

 a young bird. In this all the markings are very fine zigzag verinicula- 

 tions, there being no longitudinal streaks above or below, except a few 

 among the feathers of the breast. The shades of colors, however, are 

 identical with those of others in the series. 



A specimen of gray plumage from Mazatlan, Mexico (No. 23793, Nat. 

 Mus.; John Xantus), agrees strictly with the Choctum specimen de- 

 scribed above in the markings of the lower parts; but the upper parts 

 are grayer, with conspicuous mesial streaks of black, mostly of sagittate 

 form, agreeing exactly in this respect with a specimen of " brasilianus" 

 from Pernambuco, Brazil, in the collection of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology (No. 7805). 



The extreme rufous phase is represented in the series by two speci- 

 mens from Guatemala (belongiug to the Boston Society of Natural 

 History). These are bright brick-rufous above, the outer webs of the 

 scapulars pure white, in strong contrast, and the feathers of the pileum 

 with mesial streaks of black, — thus very closely resembling the corre- 

 sponding phase of S. asio. The face, throat, and jugulum are also of a 

 paler, but quite uniform, rufous, relieved by few or no markings of any 

 kind ; the rest of the lower parts are white, the feathers with indistinct 

 mesial streaks of dusky brownish and faint and ragged cross bars of 

 pale rufous. These specimens resemble the extreme rufous phase of 

 " brasilianus", as described above, except that there are no distinct 

 blackish streaks on the back, where also the feathers are devoid of the 

 basal fulvous spots, while the bars on the lower surface are much less 

 distinct and regular. 



Two other specimens of this phase in the collection of Messes. Salvin 

 and Godman are quite different. One, from Coban, Vera Paz, is a 

 young bird, with remnants of the immature plumage. The new dress 

 however, largely prevails. In this example, the whole dorsal region is 

 varied by an exceedingly faint, yet obvious spotting of a paler rufous, 

 and narrow blackish shaft-streaks, and the lower parts are much more 

 distinctly and regularly barred, the bars beiug, moreover, of a consid- 

 erably darker shade. It thus approximates quite closely to the rufous 

 specimen of 44 brasilianas w above referred to. The other specimen is from 

 Las Salinas, Vera Paz (" March, O. S. 2349'"), and *.s still more different. 

 The upper parts are so dark as to be almost chestnut, while the back 

 is distinctly spotted with black. The breast is nearly uniform dark 



