A new subspecies of the Solitary Sandpiper

iSyo.J liKi'.ws'ii'.K Totuuuisolitut iusci,iitamoinous-^_l{,\,Q

A77

Meleagris

g:

mexicana

^{is related t<>} the southern or Florida

form and

is similar to ii in the coloration <>f the

primary and secondary

quills, hut is

widely

separated

from

both

forms

i.1/.

gallopavo and

Af.

g.

^{osceola) in} the lighter coloration of the tips of the tail-feathers

and

the c<>l<>r of the ^tips of the tail-coverts,

which

ⁱⁿ this

form

^{IS hull'v whitish.}

A NKW SUBSPECIES OF THE SOLITARY SAND-

PIPER.

BY

WILLIAM BREWSTER.

Totanus

solitarius

cinnamomeus,

suhsp. nov.

Cinnamon Solitary Sandpiper.

SUBSPECIFIC

CHARACTERS

(youtlg in nu/initii plumage')'. Similarto /'.

solitarius, but larger, the wing6 grader,the light spots on the back, scapulars*

and

wing coverts brownish

cinnamon

insteadof white01 buffv whitish; the sides of thehead with

more

whitish, especiallyon the lores.

No

well-defined loral stripe.

Male

^/uiK, autumnal

plumage

⁽No. [7,735, SanJos,-del 1!abo,Aug. _30, 1SS7).

Above

grayish brown, the hack, scapulars, and wing-coverts tinged witholiveand coarsely spotted with brownishcinnamon, the nape with fine,obscurestreaksof grayish^; 6idesof neck rather ¹ 'ebroadly and plainly Striped; sides of head, including most of ^Ihe lores, while, finely spotted with dusky; an immaculate while space extending from abovethe eye forward nearlyto the forehead; a shortdusky space at the base ofthe bill; under parts while, the breast,juguluinand sidesofneck and _{body, but} not the Banks,distinctly streaked with grayish

brown

;

the under tail-eoveits with eonspi-.uous barsofdarkslate; underwing coverts and axillars white,thicklyand coarsely barred with dark slate;

underprimary-covertsand primaries dark pearl-gray; the outerprimary finelymottled with ashywhite along the borderof its inner

web

lor a dis- tance ol" about an inch beyond the tips of the under prilnary-eoverts.

Rump,

upper tail-covertsand middle pair of tail-featherscolored like the back, but with the outer tail-coverts white with dark slaty bars, the middle tail-feathers notched along the edges of both webs with rusty wKfte. All theother tail-feathers white,

more

01 less tinged with rusty nearIheir tips, and with wide bars of dark slate, most

numerous

on the outer \\ebs.

In respect to the characters

mentioned

in the

above

diagnosis, seven

specimens

collected

by Mr. Frazar

in

Lower

California differ very constantly

from twelve examples

in

corresponding

37§ ^Brewster

^{Totauussolitarius} cinnamomcus.

fOudir

plumage from

various partsof the eastern

United

States.

In

the latter the spots

on

the

back,

scapulars

and wing-coverts

are usu- ally smaller

and

invariably

much

lighter,

varying from ashy white

to

very

pale buffy.

The

Eastern birds also

have

the shoul- ders

and

outer

edges

of the

wings above

blacker,

and

the

dusky on

the sidesof the

head

usually in excessof the

white ground

color.

They

also

have

a

well-marked dark

loral stripe

which

is either

wholly wanting

or but imperfectly indicated in the

Lower

Cali- fornia bird.

The

mottling

on

the breastof the latter

seems

to

be

also darker, the streaks

more

distinct.

While

not constantly diagnostic,the mottling

on

theinner

web

of thefirst

primary, men-

tioned in the description of the type, is

an

excellent

average

character. I

have

seen it exhibited in only

one example of

true solitarius

while

in

cinnamomeus

itisgenerally present.

The

difference in size is

shown by

the followingtable of

meas- urements

(in inches).

"3,840 11,978 10,170

I2.7.V io,Ss6 10,935 3.S43 12.729 6,427 6.590 6,59' 6,426

17.731

'7-7V- '7.7<7

>7-7^

17.74"

'7.74'

Maine Muss.

New York lewBrunswick

Maine M;iss.

New

York

.Snelliner,Minn.

LowerCala.

4,iSo'$

Ft.Verde, Arizona Sept. 6, Oct. 22, Auij.29, Sept.22, Sept.2S, Sept.

Oct.

Au-.

Sept.

Aug.

May

1S74 1S86 iSSS iSSn 1SS6 18S5 I8S5 'S75 1SS0

|88S 1SS0

Aug.24,iSSS Aug.25,1887

" 3". "

3", "

Sept. 2, "

Au-.30, "

Sept. 2, "

Aug.2S, 1SS5 S->9 4.92 5-"7 4.90 5.04

S"7 5.10 S-«7

5'3

^*^

5.00 5.06 S-°4

S-36 5-37 5-25 5 .iS 5.10 5.40 5.49 5-09 4.90

iS;o.] Recent Literature.

^70

Two specimens from

Fort

Verde, Arizona,

in the collection ot

Dr. Mearns

agree closely

with

the

Lower

California birds in the colorof the

wings and

the characterof the dorsal spotting, but in other respects theyare intermediate

between

the

Lower

California

and Eastern

birds.

RECENT LITERATURE.

Sclater's Catalogueofthe Tracheophonae.*

— The Tracheophone

pass- eres, asiswell-known, are restricted to the

warmer

partsof thetwo

Amer-

icancontinents,beingforthemostpart tropical intheir distribution.

Thev

comprisethe fourfamilies Dendrocolaptidiv, Formicariidae,

Conopopha-

gidse, and Pteroptochidaa.and differfromother Passeres in the peculiar modification of the lowerendof the tracheafor the production of vocal sounds.

They

arebirdsofmostlysmallsize,the largestnot

much

exceeding the statureof_{a Jay,}theaverage sizebeing thatofa small Thrush.

They

vary greatly informand habits, and aremostlydenizens ofthe thicket or the forest.

Many

ofthe Dendrocolaptidae resemble the Tree-creepers in

form and habits,having stiffenedspiny tails and the

same manner

of life. Other formsof the

same

familyare terrestrial,andareremarkablefor the large

domed

claynests they construct,from whichthey derivethe

name

of Oven-birds.

The

Formicariidcearelikewise very variable inform,

some

of

them

beingdecidedlyShrike-like,while othersare

more

likeThrushes and Warblers, and stillothers, asregards external form, recall the Pittas ofthe Old World.

The

Pteroptochida*

may

be

compared

to gigantic Wrens.

In the present

volume

559 species are recognized, of which 271 belong tothe Dendrocolaptidre, 256 to theFormicariidse, 11 tothe

Conopopha-

gidae, and 21 to the Pleroptochidae.

Of

these531 arerepresented in the British

Museum

collection, the

number

of specimens aggregating 44S2.

Many

other species are referred to in foot-notes, which,says the author,

"may

ultimatelyturn outtobe perfectly valid," only such species as the authorhasseenbeing,as a rule,admitted^!

The

styleof treatment is the

same

as in the

same

author's previous volumesof the series, noticed in former

numbers

of this journal.

The

^Catalogue |ofthe| Passeriformes,|or| Perching Birds|in the|Collection|of theI British Museum.|

—

|Tracheophonae, |orthe Families|Dendrocolaptidae,|

Formicariidas,|Conopophagidae,and Pteroptochidas.| By| Philip Lutley Sclater.|

London:| Printed by order of the Trustees.| 1890.

—

^8vo, pp. xviii

X

37^,^pll.xx.

(Volume

XV

ofthe'Catalogue oftheBirdsinthe BritishMuseum.')