JACAMEROPS. 509 
Lyc. N. H. vii. p. 291°; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 3637; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. 
Costa Rica, 1887, p. 119°; Scl. Mon. Jacamars and Puff-birds, p. 57, t. 18°; Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus. xix. p. 176”. 
Supra nitide aureo-viridis, interscapulio cupreo nitens; pileo antico, capitis lateribus et gula antica paulo 
cyanescentioribus, gutture plaga conspicua mediana alba, corpore reliquo subtus castaneo ; alarum remigibus 
nigris, secundariis internis et tectricibus dorso concoloribus; cauda chalybeo-nigra, supra extrorsum dorso 
paulo cyanescentiore ; rostro nigro, pedibus fuscis. Long. tota 10°7, ale 4:3, caudee rectr. med. 5:6, rectr. 
lat. 2°5, rostri a rictu 2°1, tarsi 0°5. 
@ mari similis, plaga gutturali alba nulla et corpore subtus dilutiore castaneo. (Descr. maris ex Chepo, 
femine ex Lion Hill, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Costa Rica, Jimenez (Zeledon®); Panama, Veraguas (Arcé), Lion Hill (M‘Lean- 
nan® 7), Chepo (Arcé), Truando R. (€. J. Wood *).—Soutn America, from Colombia 
to Peru, Amazons Valley, and Guiana °?°. 
Jacamerops aurea has long been known, having been described by Vosmaer in 1768 
asa “long-tailed Kingfisher with two fingers turned forwards and two behind,” from a 
specimen in the Prince of Orange’s collection from the Dutch plantation of Berbice. 
This, in 1776, became the Alcedo aurea of P. L. S. Miller 4, which, as Mr. Sclater 
fully admits, is undoubtedly its oldest title. He, however, follows custom in using 
Gmelin’s name of Alcedo grandis given in 1788 °. We should prefer to do the same, 
but the law of priority gives no escape on the plea of uncertainty. Moreover, the 
name Jacamerops aurea is. certainly preferable on other grounds, were they of any 
weight. 
The range of Jacamerops aurea extends over nearly the whole of the northern part 
of Tropical America from Guiana and the Amazons Valley to the base of the Andes, to 
Colombia and the State of Panama. Schomburgk, and subsequently Whitely, found 
it generally distributed in British Guiana; and the former traveller says that it is 
asually met with as solitary individuals or in pairs, preferring trees on the banks of 
streams to more open places in the forest. They here watch for passing insects, which 
they catch on the wing and return to their position. ‘They often remain almost 
motionless for hours without stirring a feather. According to Schomburgk they are 
said to breed in holes in banks like Galbula viridis; but Mr. E. Bartlett, who observed 
the bird at Chamicurros and Santa Cruz in Eastern Peru, was informed that stumps of 
old trees were also employed for this purpose. 
In Colombia J. aurea seems to be generally distributed in suitable forests. It 
occasionally comes within the grasp of the bird-hunters of Bogota, but whether they 
meet with it on the eastern or western side of the Cordillera of Bogota has not yet 
been made sure. It certainly occurs in the Cauca Valley, as Salmon secured specimens 
during his residence in that district. Approaching our fauna, it occurs on the ‘Truando 
river, where the naturalists of Lieut. Michler’s Darien Expedition found it, and 
record that it sits in a tree and darts after insects like a Flycatcher ®. From the 
Isthmus of Panama, Arcé sent us a specimen from Chepo, and M‘Leannan many from 
