550 CAPITONID2. 
TETRAGONOPS. 
Tetragonops, Jardine, Edinb. Phil. Journ. new ser. i. p. 404; Marshall, Mon. Capit. pp. xxii, xxiv; 
Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. pp. 15, 120. 
Of this singular form two species are known—one, inhabiting Ecuador, a bright- 
coloured bird of robust build with many of the colours characteristic of the Rham- 
phastide. This is the type of the genus, 7’. rhanphastinus, discovered in Ecuador by 
Prof, Jameson, and described by Jardine in 1855. The other, 7. frantzii, is peculiar 
to Costa Rica and the adjoining parts of Panama, and is fully described below. 
The bill is shorter and stouter than that of Capito, deeply grooved at the base, the 
nostrils being sunk between ridges; the culmen is sharp at the base instead of rounded. 
The tomia of the maxilla has a distinct tooth near the end, and the point of the 
maxilla, when the bill is shut, rests between the forked end of the mandible. 
The sexes are nearly alike in colour, but the male has a long shiny black nuchal 
tuft, wanting in the female bird. 
1. Tetragonops frantzii. 
Tetragonops frantzii, Scl. Ibis, 1864, p. 871, t. 10’; v. Frantzius, Ibis, 1865, p. 551’; J. f. Orn. 
1869, p. 363°; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 180‘; Marshall, Mon. Capit. p. 3, t. 2°; 
Boucard, P. Z. 8. 1878, p. 47°; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Rica, 1887, p. 1237; Shelley, 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 121°. 
Supra olivaceus, fronte et pileo aureo suffusis, crista nuchali plumis elongatis nitenti-nigris composita, loris 
nigris : subtus gutture et pectore toto fulvescentibus, torque pectorali (medialiter interrupto) cinerea, ventre 
et tectricibus subcaudalibus olivaceis in medio flavido suffusis; rostro plumbeo; pedibus nigricantibus. 
Long. tota circa 7-0, alee 3:5, caude 2-4, rostri a rictu 8-5, tarsi 1-0. 
Q mari similis, sed crista nuchali nigra nulla. (Descr. maris et femine ex Costa Rica. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Costa Rica, Birris? 4, Rancho Redondo? (Zeledon), La Palma (v. Frantzius %, 
Zeledon*"), Irazu (Rogers), Navarro (Cooper*, Boucard 6), Quebrada Honda 
(v. Frantzius *), Cervantes de Cartago (v. Frantzius®, Carmiol+, Zeledon 7), San 
José (v. krantzius+); Panama, Veraguas (Arcé 8), 
This remarkable species was discovered in Costa Rica by Dr. von Frantzius, and the 
type, sent to the late Prof. Baird, was submitted to Mr. Sclater, who described and 
figured it in ‘The Ibis’ for 18641. The same collector subsequently obtained another 
specimen near Birris?. Since then many examples have been secured from various 
places in the mountainous parts of Costa Rica, where, according to von Frantzius, 
it occurs as high as 5000 or 6000 feet above sea-level #, and according to whom it lives 
socially in flocks, and utters a cry like that of a chicken, whence its local name 
“‘Gallineta.”. M. Boucard © found birds of this species in the forest at Navarro near 
streams. 
On seeing the original type we were inclined to believe that it was a female of a 
much brighter-coloured male!; but this proves not to be the case, for the female is a 
