ROSTRHAMUS. 99 
ROSTRHAMUS. 
‘Rostrhamus, Lesson, Traité d’Orn. p. 55 (1831). 
_Rosthramus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 1. p. 327. 
This genus is easily recognized by its remarkably hooked and slender bill, and by having 
‘the upper mandible so curved downward that it far exceeds the lower one in length. 
The feet are small, the claws slender and nearly straight, and grooved beneath, the 
front of the tarsus covered with large transverse scutelle. 
It is doubtful whether more than two species of ostrhamus really exist, viz. : 
Rk. sociabilis, with white upper tail-coverts, and &. hamatus, with these tail-coverts 
grey, like the back. R. teniatus was described from a single specimen having three 
white bars on the tail. 
1. Rostrhamus sociabilis. 
Gavilan del estero sociable, Azara, Apunt. 1. p. 84°. 
Herpetotheres sociabilis, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. N. xviii. p. 318°. 
Rostrhamus sociabilis, Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 52°; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 219*; Lawr. 
Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 134°; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 369°; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. 
p. 2377; Nutting, Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus. vi. pp. 395°, 408°; Bendire, Life Hist. N. Amer. 
Birds, i. p. 180, t. 5. ff. 6, 7 °°; Fisher, Bull. U.S. Dep. Agr. no. 3, p. 25". 
Cymindis leucopygus, Spix, Av. Bras. 1. p. 7, t. 2. 
Rosthramus leucopygus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 328”. 
Schistaceo-niger, capite toto et remigibus saturatioribus, tectricibus supracaudalibus longioribus albis ; 
subcaudalibus albis ; cauda nigricante, ad basin alba et sordide albo terminata: rostro nigro, cera, loris et 
pedibus flavis. Long. tota circa 16-0, ale 14:0, caudee 8-0, tarsi 2:0. (Descr. maris ex De Soto County, 
Florida. Mus. nostr.) 
@. Brunneus, pileo vix nigricantiore; cauda ut in mari colorata, sed brunnescentiore: subtus saturate 
brunneus, gutture pallide ochraceo vel albo, brunneo sagittatim striato ; pectoris plumis ochraceo indentatis 
vel maculatis; crisso et subcaudalibus albis ; remigibus intus griseis, versus basin albicantibus et fusco 
anguste transfasciatis. (Descr. fem. ex Panacofkee Lake, Florida. Mus. Brit.) 
Forma melan. Similis preecedentibus, sed niger. 
Juv. Fuscus, plumis omnibus rufo marginatis: subtus rufescenti-albo variegatus, subalaribus albidis ; cauda 
griseo-fusca, ad basin albida, fascia lata subterminali fusca. 
Hab. Norrtn America, Florida }°1!.—Mexico, San Andres Tuxtla, Cosamaloapam 
(Sumichrast’); Guatemata, Peten (Leyland *); Nicaragua, Omotépe §, Los 
Sdbalos (Nutting ®); Costa Rica (v. Frantzius®)—SoutH AMERIcA generally, 
from Colombia and Guiana to Paraguay 1°. 
. The Everglade Kite, as it is called by North-American naturalists, nests regularly in 
Southern Florida, and is common in certain districts of that State, subsisting on small 
molluscs and frequenting marshy localities. Sumichrast procured specimens in Mexico 
in the State of Vera Cruz, and the species has also been obtained in Guatemala, 
Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, but it is not recorded as breeding there. Apparently onlya 
migrant throughout Central America, where the bird is always found in the vicinity of 
