Page:Notes on the Ornithology of Southern Texas.djvu/24

Rh ing into broad and confluent patches about the larger end. This genus is represented in my collection by the present species, and M. crinitus, M. mexicanus, M. cooperi, and M. 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 Myiarchus crinitus, the dark brown is the predominant color ; in M. erythrocercus, the stone-colored markings are much more abundant than in any of the others 5 in M. validus, on the contrary, these are wholly wanting. The set of eggs identified by Dr. Merrill, five in number, range from .99 to .94 of an inch in length and from .69 to .74 in breadth, averaging .97 by .72J. 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 M. mexicanus, average .84 by .69, and another set .84 by .68, In these, the markings of both kind? 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 .71|, are deeply marked, and chiefly with the brown stripes. The eggs of H. cooperi average ,91£ by .73, and are very simi- lar to those of if. 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. E. — The proper name of this species has been a subject 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 erythrocercus. 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 brief diagnoses accompa- nying these names give any character of even the least importance, and 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