( 335 ) 
etc. agree in the small size with the latter, and the intensity of coloration is subject 
to much individual variation (ef. Nov. Zool. xii. 1905. p- 281). 
D. merula is easily distinguishable among its aftines by its dark general 
coloration, by the large whitish patch on the throat, and especially by having the 
median and greater wing-coverts chestnut-rufous like the remiges, It is widely 
distributed in Amazonia, being found in Cayenne, British Guiana, on the Orinoco 
and its tributary the Caura, on the Rio Negro, on the Amazons and its affluents 
from Para to the Ucayali.* 
197. Dendrocolaptes hoffmannsi Hellm. 
Dendrocolaptes hoffmannsi Hellmayr, Bull. B.O.C. xxiii. p. 66 (1909.—Calama, Allianca: Rio 
Madeira). 
No. 128. g ad., Calama, 29. vi. 1907. “Iris brown, feet plumbeoas, bill 
grey.” —Wing 140; tail 120; bill 37 mm. Type of species. 
No. 234. ? ad., Calama, 15. vii. 1907. “Tris light grey, feet and bill grey.”— 
Wing 141; tail 132; bill 35 mm. : 
No. 763. % juv., Allianca, 8. xi. 1907. “ Iris brown, feet dark grey, bill 
black.” —Wing 132 ; tail 114 ; bill 36 mm. 
3 ad. Top of the head dull ruafescent brown, each feather with a hair-like buff 
shaft-line, and a very distinct, blackish apical margin; crown and occiput strongly 
tinged with cinnamomeous ; nape and upper back uniform rufescent brown, most 
of the feathers with a hair-like buff shaft-line ; rump and upper tail-coverts deep 
cinnamon-rafous. Upper wing-coverts uniform brown like the back, those of the 
greater series tinged with rufous on the inner web. Remiges deep cinnamon- 
rufous, the outer primaries dusky at the tip and slightly edged with olivaceous 
along outer web. Rectrices deep cinnamon-rnfous, with the shafts nearly blackish. 
Lores grey, with pale shaft-lines. Cheeks, auricular and temporal regions baff, 
the feathers edged with brown or blackish ; above the eye @ narrow line of buff 
spots, edged with dark brown ; sides of the neck dull olive-brown, narrowly streaked 
with buff. Chin dingy greyish buff; throat and foreneck dull olive-brown, 
each feather with a very distinct (about 1 mm. wide) longitudinal streak of buff, 
bordered laterally by an irregular dusky line, or by a number of rather indistinct 
dusky dots ; remainder of lower parts dull ochreous brown, each feather crossed 
by three very distinct, though narrow, dusky lines. Avxillaries, under wing-coverts, 
and edge of the wing orange-buff, regularly barred with dusky. Bill: upper 
mandible blackish, lower one horn-colour, dingy yellowish at the base. 
The female differs by having fewer or no pale shaft-lines on the upper back, 
and by the markings of the throat and foreneck being less clearly defined. The 
young bird is rather more reddish on the back and more ochreous on the belly than 
the adults. 
This new species belongs undoubtedly to the group of D. pallescens Pelz.t 
and D. plagosus Salv. & Godm.+; it is, however, quite distinct from either of them. 
With the former it agrees notably in the uniform (not cross-banded) back and 
upper wing-coverts, as well as in the pattern of the pileum, ete. ; but D. pallescens 
has no cinnamomeons tinge about the head, the blackish apical edges are much 
less conspicuous and nearly obsolete on the hind-crown, while the much broader 
* Sarayacu, Castelnau coll. in Paris Museum. 
Tt Zur Orn. Bras. i. pp. 43, 61 (1867.—Estiva and Engenho do Gama, Western Mattogrosso). 
+ Ibis 1883, p. 210 (Camacusa, Brit. Guiana). 
