334 EURYPYGIDA. 
Fam. EURYPYGIDA. 
Among the osteological characters which distinguish the Sun-Bitterns may be 
mentioned the absence of occipital foramina, basipterygoid processes, and supraorbital 
impressions, as well as the presence of a notch on each side of the posterior margin of 
the sternum. The rectrices are twelve in number, but there are only ten primaries 
present. The oil-gland is nude, and there are powder-down patches on the body. 
The bill is like that of a Rail, being a little longer than the head, the nostrils 
horizontal and pervious, but overhung by a slight opercular membrane, situated in a 
long groove which extends for nearly three-fourths of the length of the bill, while the 
lower mandible is grooved along the sides. 
The nestlings and eggs somewhat resemble those of a Scolopax, and the former 
are covered with down and are fed by the parents for some weeks. Only one genus 
is known. 
EURYPYGA. 
Eurypyga, Uliger, Prodr. p. 257 (1811); Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 240 (1894). 
The generic characters have already been noticed under the family, and the species 
are readily distinguished by their peculiar colour. . helias inhabits Brazil and 
extends to Bolivia, Guiana, and Venezuela, while H. major represents it in Central 
America, Colombia, and Ecuador. 
1. Eurypyga major. 
Eurypyga major, Hartl. Syst. Verz. Mus. Bremen, p. 108’; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 478?; 
ix. p. 142°; Scl. & Salv. P. Z.S. 1864, p. 371*; Salv. Ibis, 1866, p. 205°; P.Z.S. 1867, 
p- 161°; 1870, p. 218"; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 377°; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. 
Costa Rica, 1887, p. 131°; Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. viii. p. 118"; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. xxiii. p. 242". 
Eurypyga helias (nec Pallas), Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 227"; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. 
p. 301”. 
Griseo-brunnescens, nigro late transfasciata; dorso imo et supracaudalibus saturatius griseis, albo anguste 
transfasciatis ; tectricibus alarum et ala spuria schistaceis, nigro fasciatis et maculis albis plus minusve 
celatis ornatis ; remigibus variegatis, ad basin ochraceis griseo vermiculatis, primariis alternatim castaneis 
et nigris, fascia mediana et altera subterminali albis griseo marmoratis, apicibus nigris; tectricibus 
majoribus et secundariis plerisque ochraceis griseo marmoratis, pogonio externo basin versus castaneo 
fascia lata nigra, apicibus cinereis, albido marmoratis, fascia terminali nigricante; rectricibus schistaceis, 
albido nigroque transvermiculatis, fascia duplici nigra, supra castanea angustius marginata ornatis; pileo 
et nucha, cum facie laterali, nigris, fascia angusta superciliari antice castanea, postice alba; fascia altera 
infraoculari alba ; gula alba; genis anticis nigris, genis posticis et gutturis lateribus nigris anguste albo 
transvermiculatis ; colli lateribus, praepectore et pectore summo sordide rufescentibus, nigro fasciatim 
trapsvermiculatis ; corpore reliquo subtus pallide fulvescente, subcaudalibus magis cervinis, pectoris 
lateribus ochraceis fusco transfasciatis ; subalaribus sordide plumbeis, medianis ochraceis ; maxilla nigra, 
