309 
Museums of the United States. 
have occurred in the - large collections that have of late 
years been made in Costa Rica. In examining the type I 
noticed that the colour of the back was irregularly distributed, 
and appeared clue to an abnormal amount of colour in this 
individual; and to the same cause I attribute the deep colour 
of the campterium. Thus viewed, the bird becomes merely 
an individual variety of A. aurantiirostris , a species exces¬ 
sively common in the same districts where the supposed A. 
rufodorsalis is found. 
Cyanqspiza rosit^e, Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. x. p. 397 (1874). 
The description given by Mr. Lawrence was communicated 
to him by M. Sumichrast. Soon after it was in type the 
specimens reached Washington, where I had the pleasure of 
examining them. The species is a most beautiful one, and 
quite distinct from any previously described, being nearest, 
however, to C. ciris. M. Sumichrast also sent the female, 
which, no doubt, Mr. Lawrence will describe in a forthcoming 
paper on Western Mexican birds. 
Elaine a semiplava, Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. viii. p. 177. 
Described from a specimen collected by Mr. Hicks at Chi- 
riqui, proves, on an examination of the type, to be Capsi- 
empis fiaveola (Licht.). We had already received a specimen 
from the same locality, and included it under the latter name 
in our f Nomenclator 5 (p. 47). The species appears to have 
a very wide range, extending as it does from South-eastern 
Brazil, through Guiana, to Veragua; but specimens from these 
distant points present no appreciable differences. 
Empidonax axillaris, Ridgway, N. Am. B. ii. p. 363. 
Mr. Ridgway suggests that this bird may be E. albigularis, 
Scl. & Salv. (Ibis, 1859, p. 122 ); and I have no doubt that it 
really belongs there. The Smithsonian type is in a wretched 
state, the plumage being worn and abraded. E. atbigularis 
is a fairly defined species for this intricate genus. 
As regards Empidonax brunnescens , Ridgway, N. Am, B. 
ii. p. 363, from Parana, Mr. Ridgway adds, in the appendix to 
the third volume, p. 519, that there is a second specimen in 
the Boston Museum, bearing the name E. olivus, but to which 
