30 TURDIDA. 
This species was first described in 1852 by Dr. Hartlaub, from a specimen sent to the 
Hamburg Museum by M. Gadechens!; and since that time numerous examples have 
been transmitted to Europe, most of them from the vicinity of Coban, in Vera Paz. 
Melanotis hypolewcus is a common bird in the neighbourhood of Duefias, where it is 
resident throughout the year. It frequents the thick bushes and underwood on the 
banks of the Rio Guacalate and the borders of the open land near Duefias. It isa shy 
bird, skulking to elude observation, and never flying far in the open. During the greater 
part of the year its song is rather disjointed and short; but as the breeding-season 
approaches in May and June it improves, and is then of fair quality, containing a few 
rich notes. The breeding-season would seem to spread over a considerable period. We 
found nests with eggs about the end of May; two months later, on ‘the 23rd July, a 
young bird was shot that had just left the nest; and in the middle of September another 
young bird was obtained, hardly more advanced than the first. The nest, which is 
usually placed in a thicket, about 9 or 10 feet from the ground, isa very slight structure, 
composed of small twigs and lined with fine roots. The usual complemént of eges is 
three; these are of a uniform greenish-blue colour, and rather elongated in shape, 
measuring 1-17 inch by ‘8. The food of M. hypoleucus consists chiefly of berries ; but 
as it is also frequently in the habit of scratching about the roots of trees and among 
dead leaves, insects and their larvee are probably included in its diet. 
Melanotis hypoleucus, though restricted in its range to Guatemala, is a well-known 
and common bird in the highlands of that country. The lowest district where we met 
with it was the neighbourhood of San Gerénimo in the plain of Salama, which lies at 
an elevation of about 3000 feet above the sea. Near Coban, at an altitude of about 
4500 feet, it is also common. Of its abundance at Duefias (altitude 4900 feet) we have 
already spoken. It was also observed in some numbers on the road which skirts the 
north side of the Lake of Atitlan, near Godines, at a height of not less than 7000 feet 
above the sea. It will thus be seen that I. hypoleucus has, as a rule, a much more 
elevated range than its congener MV. cwrulescens, which is found at the sea-level in some 
parts of Mexico. 
HARPORHYNCHUS. 
Toxostoma, Wagler, Isis, 1831, p. 528 (nec Rafin.). (Type Orpheus curvirostris, Sw.) 
Harpes, Gambel, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1845, p. 264 (nec Goldfuss). (Type Harpes redivivus, Gamb.) 
Harporhynchus, Cabanis, Arch. f. Nat. xiii. p. 823 (1847). 
This peculiar genus consists of about eight or nine well-marked species, several of 
which have been subdivided into geographical races or varieties. The head quarters of 
the genus seems to be the basin of the Colorado, outlying species being found in Lower 
California (H. cinereus), the Eastern States (H. rufus), and in the coast region of Cali- 
