PANYPTILA. 371 
a bird possessing such power of rapid flight. By degrees it has been traced over a 
large portion of Tropical America, and examples have been obtained from widely 
distant places. Discovered in Guiana!, where also Whitely met with it, it occurs at 
Para 4, where a specimen was secured by Mr. Layard, into whose dining-room it dashed 
during his residence in that city. It has been recorded from South Brazil, though 
Natterer did not meet with it. We recently found a beautiful specimen in one of 
Hauxwell’s collections made at Samiria on the Upper Amazons. It occurs also in 
Venezuela and Ecuador, and in the Colombian State of Antioquia ®, the last-named 
locality bringing it close to our borders. : 
We have no specimen from our country, but Salvin was shown by Mr. Lawrence in 
1874 a specimen with its nest which was found near the Chagres river by Dr. T. K. 
Merritt, the discoverer of Microchera albocoronata. Writing in 1884, Mr. Lawrence 
says that the bird was captured in its nest, the latter being a remarkable structure, 
composed of some kind of silk-weed, and, being probably waterproof, was used by the 
bird as a domicile in the rainy season. Its shape was like a sleeve, three or four inches 
in diameter and nine or ten inches long. ‘This nest was therefore somewhat similar 
to that of P. sancti-hieronymi, but a good deal smaller, and had probably been attached 
to a rock in a similar way. 
2. Panyptila sancti-hieronymi. 
Panyptila sancti-hieronymi, Salv. P. Z. 8S. 1863, p. 190, t. 23'; Ibis, 1866, p. 195°; 1874, p. 188°; 
Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 462%. 
P. cayennensi persimilis, sed multo major, primariis internis latiore albo-marginatis. Long. tota circa 7-8, 
ale 7:5, caude rectr. med. 1°35, rectr. lat. 3-4. (Descr.. exempl. typ. ex San Geronimo, Guatemala. 
Mus. nostr.) 
Hab, Guatemata, San Gerdnimo}t, Volcan de Fuego (0. S. &d F. D. G., H. Hague), 
vicinity of Antigua (V. Constancia). 
The first intimation we had of the existence of this fine species was when Mr. Carter, 
the manager of the estate of San Gerénimo in Vera Paz, brought us two specimens 
confined in one of the lamps of his gig!. They had been caught by.an Indian under a 
rock near the village of Matanzas, and were nearly dead, but one of them had sufficient 
energy to show the great grasping powers of its strong feet. Soon after, this the nest 
was brought us from the hills above San Gerénimo. It was taken from a rock 
near some Indian ruins called Pueblo Viejo, situated at the extremity of a spur of the 
mountain chain. Some years later we visited thi$ spot and found a half-finished nest, 
but no birds were flying about 3. - 
Though birds of this species were afterwards observed in other parts of Guatemala 
we were never able to secure a specimen. On several occasions birds were seen 
sweeping over the second-growth woods of the Volcan de Fuego, and. atteinpts were 
made to shoot some, but in vain, their flight being far too rapid for our skill. From 
this cause P. sancti-hieronymi is a very rare bird in collections. ‘There aie specimens, 
47* 
