266 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



suited and the types ascertained in that manner, whenever it becomes neces- 

 sary. 



It will be found on reference to Ois. d'Am., Sept., as cited above, that the 

 only species of his genus Coereba given by Vieillotis Coereba Jiaveola, supposed 

 to be the same as Certhia jiaveola, Linnaeus. According to the views of some 

 distinguished and judicious authors, that species should be regardsd as the 

 type of the genus, and the name Coereba should therefore be applied to a group 

 since designated, and now well known as Certhiola. In such view, I cannot 

 coincide. 



Dr. Cabanis, as above, proposes the name Arbelorhina as a substitute for 

 Coereba, apparently objecting to the barbarous origin of the latter. His type 

 is C. cyanea. 



1. Coereba cyanea, (Linnaeus.) * 



Certhia cyanea, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 188 (1766). 



Certhia flavipes, Gm., Syst. Nat. i. p. 472 (1788). 



Certhia cyanogastra, Lath., Ind. Orn. i. p. 295 (1790). 



Certhia armillata, Sparrm., Mus. Carls., No. 36 (1787). 



Coereba carneipes, Sclater., Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1859, p. 376.? 



Arbelorhina brevipes et eximia, Cab., Mus. Hein. i. p. 96 (1850). ? 

 Aud. and Vieill., Ois. Dor. ii. pi, 41, 42, 43. Vieill., Gal. i. pi. 176. Sparrm., 

 Mus. Carls., pi. 36. Buff., PI. Enl. 83, fig. 2. Edwards' Birds, vi. pi. 264, 

 fig. 1. Hahn., Voegel. pt. xii. pi. 3. Reich., Voeg. fig. 3767, 3768, 3769. 



Numerous specimens of this species are in the Museum of the Academy, 

 variously labelled Cayenne. Brazil, Trinidad, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, of 

 which localities I know several to be correct. There is appreciable difference 

 between them in the size and degree of curve in the bills, but all are exceed- 

 ingly alike in colors. Specimens from Venezuela have the largest bills, and 

 it happens also that one specimen in the Massena collection, marked " Carac- 

 cas," in the hand-writing of M. Victor Massena, has the smallest. These 

 large-billed specimens from Venezuela may be entitled to specific distinction, 

 and, in addition to their larger size, seem to have with some uniformity a 

 greater extent of the black of the lores, completely enclosing the eye and ex- 

 tending behind it. A specimen from Panama, belonging to the Smithsonian 

 Institution, has the same character, but is smaller in all its parts. The Mexican 

 and Central American bird mayalso be distinct, and entitled to the name 

 given by Dr. Sclater, as above cited, but probably not on account of having 

 the legs red. I suspect that the adult bird always has the legs of that color, 

 in whatever locality ; and. in a very interesting and valuable paper on the 

 birds of the West Indies, Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor says of the bird found in 

 Trinidad : " Its legs and feet are bright red." (Ibis, 1864, p. 81). 



There are at present fourteen mounted specimens of this species in the 

 Academy Museum, and numerous others in skins, not exhibited. Notwith- 

 standing the small differences in specimens, as above, I find it impossible to 

 distinguish Dr. Cabanis' species brevipes and eximia in the collection. 



2. Coereba cverulea (Linnaeus). 



Certhia caerulea, Linn., Syst. Nat., i. p. 118 (1758). 

 Certhia ochrochlora, Gm., Syst. Nat., i. p. 472 (1788). 

 Certhia surinamensis, Lath., Ind. Orn., i. p. 295 (1790). 

 Fringilla cyanomelas, Gm., Syst. Nat., ii. p. 924 (1788). 

 Aud. et Vieill., Ois. Dor., ii. pi. 44, 45. Edwards' Birds, i. pi. 21, fig. 1. 

 Sparrm., Mus. Carls., pi. 82. Hahn's Voeg., pt. xii. pi. 4. Reich. Voeg., fig. 

 3770,3771. 



Six specimens, nearly all of which are labelled " Cayenne." For this spe- 

 cies I take specimens with a medium-sized bill, as nearly as possible like the 

 figure in Edwards' Birds, above cited, on which this species is founded. 



[Nov. 



