Note 8 — Family FRINGILLIDÆ.—The Finches. (Continued.) (continued 2)
Reading edition
Peucæa botterii, Sclater, Cat. Am. B. 1862, 116 (Zonotrichia b. P. Z. S. 1857, 214), Orizaba. Coturniculus mexicana, Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 1867, 474 (Colima).
This form can scarcely be defined separately from æstivalis. The type of C. mexicanus, Lawr., is undistinguishable from Orizaba specimens. A specimen in the worn summer plumage (44,752♀, Mirador, July) differs in having the streaks above almost wholly black, with scarcely any rufous edge; the crown is almost uniformly blackish. The feathers are very much worn, however, and the specimen is without doubt referrible to botteri.
The Peucæa notosticta of Sclater (P. Z. S. 1868, 322) we have not seen; it appears to differ in some important respects from the forms diagnosed above, and may, possibly, be a good species. Its place in our system appears to be with section “A,” but it differs from ruficeps and boucardi in the median stripe on the crown, and the black streaks in the rufous of the lateral portion, the blacker streaks of the dorsal region, and some other less important points of coloration. The size appears to be larger than in any of the forms given in our synopsis (wing, 2.70; tail, 3.00). Hab. States of Puebla and Mexico, Mex.