| OCR Text |
Show 270 MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN O N T H E [FEB. 15, CYANOCITTA BEECHEII. Pica beecheii, Vig. Zool. Journ. iv. p. 353 (1829), et Beechey's Voy. Zool. p. 22, pl. 6. Cyanocitta crassirostris, Bp. Consp. i. p. 378 (1850). Cyanocorax geoffroii, Bp. C. R. xxxi. p. 564 (1850). Cyanocorax beecheyi, Finsch, Abh. Nat. Ver. Bremen, vol. ii. p. 333. Cyanocitta beecheyii, Lawr. M e m . Boston Soc. N . . ii. p. 283. Hab. North-western Mexico ; Mazatlan (Grayson and Bischoff) ; Tres Marias Islands (Xantus). As far as can be told by the imperfect diagnoses in Bonaparte's ' Conspectus,' his " C. beachii " is founded on a yellow-billed specimen of the next species, and his C. crassirostris on a black-billed specimen of the present bird. Grayson says decidedly that the colour of the bill in the present bird is a sexual character; and there is not much doubt that he is correct. Bonaparte's C. geoffroii is also undoubtedly based upon an individual of this species. There is no example of the true C. beecheii in the British Museum. In the Galerie of the Jardin des Plantes there are four, all labelled " Cyanocitta geoffroii, Bp." Two of these are from the Voyage of the ' Venus,' from San Bias and Mazatlan respectively, that from San Bias being doubtless Bonaparte's type. CYANOCITTA GERMANA, sp. nov. Cyanocitta beachii, Bp. Consp. i. p. 378. (nee. Vig.). Corvus (Pica) beecheii, Eyd. et Gerv. Mag. de Zool. 1836, pl. 72, et Voy. ' Favorite,' pl. 20. Cyanocitta crassirostris, Salv. Ibis, 1861, p. 353 ; Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 57; Lawrence, Ann. L. N. Y. ix. p. 201. Cyanurus beecheii et C. crassirostris, Gray, Hand-list, ii. pp. 4 & 5. Hab. Belize (Salvin, Dyson fy Leylan); Peten (Morelet); Merida, Yucatan (Schott). W e have already stated that this bird is probably the C. beachii of Bonaparte's ' Conspectus.' Dr. Pucheran first pointed out the difference between the figure of Eydoux and Gervais in the 'Magasin de Zool.' (which we suppose to be also intended for it) and that of Vigors representing the true beecheii, and associated the former with Morelet's specimens from Yucatan. Not having looked sufficiently deeply into the complicated errors of previous workers, we have hitherto used the term crassirostris for the present bird, and have been followed therein by other writers. But, as hinted by Pucheran*, there can be little question that the insufficient diagnosis of Bonaparte's C. crassirostris was really taken from a black-billed C. beecheii. As in C. beecheii, both yellow and black-billed specimens occur in the present species. Of two examples obtained by Salvin at Belize, one has a black bill and the other a yellow. The latter, moreover, has slight white tips to the lateral rectrices, which we look upon as a * Rev. Zool. 1858, p. 196. |
