244 CCEREBIDZ. 
rictal bristles are short; the tarsi and toes are stout, and the claws strong. The 
plumage generally is rather close ; and in most of the species the males have a large 
proportion of blue in their coloration ; in some species this is replaced by green, and in 
D. flaviventris by yellow. 
1. Dacnis cayana. 
Motacilla cayana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 386°. 
Dacnis cayana, Scl. Cat. Am. B. p. 507; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. 8. 1867, p. 977°; 1879, p. 4964; Salv. 
P. Z. 8. 1870, p. 185’; Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 25°. 
Ceerulea ; loris, macula postoculari, gula, dorso medio, alis et cauda nigris, tectricibus alarum ceruleo limbatis, 
rostro nigro, pedibus carneis. Long. tota 4:5, ale 2°6, caude 1:8, rostri a rictu 0-7, tarsi 0°75. (Descr. 
maris ex Chiriqui, Panama. Mus. nostr.) , 
Q viridis, alis et cauda viridi limbatis, capite summo et genis ceruleis, gula fusca ceruleo lavata. (Deser. 
feminee ex Chiriqui, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. PanaMa, Mina de Chorcha (Arcé*).—SovutH America, from Colombia‘ to 
Guiana !?, Amazonia? and Brazil °. 
b) 
This is one of the commonest birds of South America, having a range extending over 
the whole of the tropical portion of that continent from South Brazil and Bolivia to 
Colombia. It is not found, however, in the Antilles. In Central America we have 
only seen specimens from Chiriqui, which almost exactly correspond with typical Guiana 
examples; the throat, however, is less deeply black. Others we have belonging to this | 
form of Dacnis all have a tinge of the blue of D. ultramarina, though in some cases 
the difference is so slight that we hardly know with which race to place them; or, 
indeed, if D. ultramarina is worthy of being kept distinct from D. cayana. 
It is only in this north-western corner of its range that any variation is to be seen in 
D. cayana; for the tint of the blue of the plumage of the male is remarkably constant 
wherever else the bird is found. As another species (C. cwrebicolor) occurs in the 
adjoining district, it may be that the variation found in C. cayana is due to the infusion 
of some C. cwrebicolor blood, and that this has given rise to C. ultramarina, which is 
certainly intermediate between the two, and this to a variable extent. 
2. Dacnis ultramarina. 
Dacnis ultramarina, Lawr. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1864, p. 106"; Ann. Lyc. N. Y. viii. p. 180°; ix. p. 97°; 
Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 348*; Salv. P. Z. 8. 1870, p. 185°. 
Dacnis cerebicolor, Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. vii. p. 291 (nec Sclater) °. 
Dacnis cayana, Salv. Ibis, 1872, p. 815°. 
D. cayane similis, sed colore maris ceruleo ultramarino lavato forsan diversa. (Descr. maris ex Panama. 
Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Nicaragua, Chontales (Belt’), Greytown (Holland? ®); Costa Rica, Angostura 
(Carmiol*) ; Panama, line of railway (f‘Leannan!4°), Chepo (Arcé>). 
This Dacnis, from the isthmus of Panama, was separated from D. cerebicolor of 
