RHAMPHOCLUS. 281 
and most characteristic species of the genus, R. jacapa, is not a member of our bird- 
fauna. 
All the species are inhabitants of the hottest forests, on the outskirts of which they 
live. In Guatemala R. passerinii occurs only in such places, and hardly extends its 
range into the mountains above 1200 to 1500 feet. 
The bill of Rhamphoceelus is its chief peculiarity, the base of the mandible on either 
side being swollen in a peculiar way so as to project conspicuously beyond the plumage ; 
the nasal feathers project forwards so as almost to cover the nostrils; these are open 
and situated at the end of the fossa. The plumage generally is very soft, and scarlet 
of various shades enters largely intoits coloration. This, in the case of R. icteronotus, 
is replaced by clear yellow. The wings are short and rounded, the fourth primary 
being slightly the longest. The tail is rounded, and the tarsi and feet rather feeble. 
1. Rhamphocelus passerinii. (Tab. XVIII. fig. 1.) 
Ramphocelus passerinii, Bp. Antologia, 1831, no. 130, p. 3°; Scl. P. Z.S. 1856, pp. 1807, 142°; 
Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 16*; 1860, p. 32°; P.Z.S. 1867, p. 278°; 1870, p. 8367; 
Moore, P. Z.S. 1859, p. 59°; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 111°; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii. 
pp. 175°, 179"; ix. p. 99”; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 299%; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, 
p- 187 “; Ibis, 1872, p. 316”. 
Ramphopis flammigerus, Baird, Stansbury’s Exp. to Gt. Salt Lake, App. p. 36". 
Velutino-niger, dorso toto postico rubro-coccineo, plumis hujus partis ad basin albis ; rostro plumbeo ; pedibus 
obscure fuscis. Long. tota 6°5, ale 3-1, caude 2°9, rostri a rictu 0-7, tarsi 0-9. 
@ flavo-brunneo olivascens, dorso postico brunnescenti-flavo, capite undique et gula fuscis ; alis intus et cauda 
nigricantibus. (Descr. maris et femine ex Choctum, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. British Honpuras, Belize river (0. S.), Belize (Blancaneaux) ; GuatTEMALA, Choc- 
tum, Yzabal 45 (0. S.& F. D. G.), Cahabon (Skinner *), Tucuru (Sarg); Honpuras, 
Atlantic coast (Taylor®), Omoa (Leyland *), San Pedro (G. M. Whitely"); 
Nicaragua, Mosquito coast (Wickham®), Chontales (elt 15), Greytown (Holland ""); 
Costa Rica, Angostura and San Carlos (v. Mrantzius }°, Carmiol }*), Navarro (v. 
Frantzius '°, Cooper), Orosi, Sarapiqui, Tucurriqui (v. Mrantzius!%), Barranca 
(Arcé); Panama, Chiriqui (Bridges*), David (Hicks 1°), Volcan de Chiriqui, 
Bugaba "4, Vivala, Mina de Chorcha ! (Arcé). 
The original specimens of this Rhamphocelus described by Bonaparte were supposed 
to have come either from Mexico or Cuba’, but it is now known that neither country 
can claim it as an inhabitant. In the tropical forests of Eastern Guatemala it is 
common, and we have traced it northwards to the Belize river in British Honduras, 
which seems to be nearly its extreme northern limit. In the forest country north of 
Coban in Vera Paz and thence to the shores of the lake of Yzabal R. passerinit is 
abundant, and no bird shows to such advantage as the male as he flies in the openings 
of the forest, the brilliant scarlet of his back being a most conspicuous object. We 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. I., December 1883. 36 
