DIGLOSSA. 241 
Section ITI. OSCINES TENUIROSTRES. 
Fam. CH&REBIDA. 
DIGLOSSA. 
Diglossa, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 280 (type D. baritula) ; Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1842, p. 56; Sclater, 
Ibis, 1875, p. 206. 
Agrilorhinus, Bp. Nouv. Ann. Se. Nat. i. p. 408 (1838). 
The members of this peculiar genus are almost confined to the Andes of South 
America from Bolivia in the south to Colombia and Venezuela in the north. One 
species is found in the highlands of Guiana and two within our region—D. plumbea 
being peculiar to the highlands of Panama and Costa Rica, and D. baritula having 
a wider range in Southern Mexico and Guatemala. All the members of the genus are 
found in upland forests, never probably descending below an elevation of 6000 feet. 
Mr. Sclater has recently published a monograph of the genus Déglossa, in which he 
includes fifteen species. To these we have added a sixteenth, D. glauca of Bolivia. 
The species in this monograph are divided into two sections, according as their plumage 
is mingled with rufous or whole-coloured. All, however, are very closely allied, and 
all have the peculiar formation of the bill which makes the genus one of easy recog- 
nition. 
Diglossa baritula was the first species discovered, and became the type of the 
genus Diglossa, described by Wagler in 1832. The same species furnished the type 
specimens of Prince Bonaparte’s genus Agrilorhinus, and also of Lichtenstein’s Cam- 
pylops, which latter name, according to Dr. Cabanis, was not published till 1851, when 
it was mentioned in the first part of the ‘Museum Heineanum.’ The whole genus was 
split up by Cassin in 1864 into a number of smaller subgenera, the characters of which 
were drawn from coloration. Mr. Sclater justly remarks that this step was not at all 
necessary. . 
Diglossa may easily be recognized from all the rest of the Cerebide by the hook of 
the maxilla, which projects a long way beyond the end of the mandible, and is abruptly 
curved downwards ; the mandible is rather swollen at the base, and curves upwards 
towards the end. On the cutting-edge of the maxilla, just before the commencement 
of the curve of the terminal hook are several dentate serrations. The nostril is over- 
hung with a membrane ; the rictal bristles are well developed. The tongue is divided 
towards the end (hence the origin of the name of the genus). The wings are moderately 
rounded, the first primary well developed, about equal to the seventh, the third and 
fourth equal and longest. ‘The tail is moderately forked. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. I., November 1883. 31 
