PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 139 



ing into broad and confluent patches about the larger end. This genus 

 is represented in my collection by the present species, and If. crinitus, M. 

 mexicanus, 31. cooperi, and 31. validus, of Jamaica. In all these, except 

 the last, the two very distinct colorations are more or less noticeable : 

 these are a deep shade of reddish-brown and a lighter marking of dark 

 stone-color or slate, with slight tinge of purple or lilac. In the Myiarehus 

 crinitus, the dark brown is the predominant color; in 31. erythrocercus, 

 the stoue-colored markings are much more abundant than in any of the 

 others; in 31. validus, on the contrary, these are wholly wanting. The 

 set of eggs identified by Dr. Merrill, live in number, range from .99 to .94 

 of an inch in length and from .69 to .74 in breadth, averaging .97 by .72£. 

 Another set of three, not identified, but undoubted, average 1.02 by .72. 

 A third set, from the collection of the late Dr. Berlandier, and hitherto 

 supposed to belong to M. mexicanus, are marked with stone-colored 

 dashes that are much darker and have a decidedly purplish tinge. These 

 average .95 by .74. 



A set of five eggs, from California, of 31. mexicanus, average .84 by .09, 

 aud another set .84 by .68. In these, the markings of both kiud^ are fewer, 

 and the greater part of these in slender lines, the purplish-slate being 

 about as abundant as the reddish-brown stripes. Five eggs of M. cri- 

 nitus average .95 by .71g, are deeply marked, and chiefly with the brown 

 stripes. The eggs of 31. cooper i average .91£ by .73, and are very simi- 

 lar to those of M. mexicanus, except in size. The egg of M. validus is 

 marked by but one kind of colored stripe, a combination of lilac and 

 red-brown. The ground-color is more distinctly a deep and warm shade 

 of cream : measurement, .84 by .69. — T. M. B. 



Note by E. R. — The proper name of this species has been a sub- 

 ject of much discussion and difference of opinion, but it seems now 

 generally settled that it is to be known as erythrocercus, Scl. & Salv. 

 Admitting that two races may be distinguished (a smaller Southern, and 

 a larger Northern, with grayer colors), it is less easy to decide what name 

 the Northern race should bear, — the Southern one being, of course, the 

 typical erythrocercas. As to point of date, the choice evidently lies 

 between Tyrannula mexicana and T. cooperi (1857), both these names first 

 occurring on the same page, but mexicana first, and therefore entitled to 

 priority. The difficulty is that neither of the briel diagnoses accompa- 

 nying these names give any character of even the least importance, aud 

 are therefore no aid whatever in determining what species is meant. 

 The types of both these birds are said to exist in the British Museum ; 

 and Dr. P. L. Sclater, who has examined that of T. mexicana, says that 

 it is the same as the bird called M. cooperi (Kaup) by Professor Baird, 

 in Birds N. Am. 1858, 180. If this be true, it raises the question as to 

 whether Professor Baird's identification of Kaup's T. cooperi was correct, 

 since it seems strange that the latter author would, on the same page, 

 describe different specimens of the same bird as distinct species ! It 



