226 Zoological Society : — 



Of the two examples of this species belonging to the Norwich 

 Museum, one was procured by Mr. H. W. Bates* on the Rio Ja- 

 varri — a branch of the Upper Amazon ; and the other, I have no 

 doubt, from the ticket with which it is labelled, is from the interior 

 of Bolivia. So we may conclude that the interior wood-region of 

 Peru and Bolivia is the natural habitat of this species. 



There are at least three birds of this group which are in their 

 adult plumage slaty-black or blackish, with a white bar across the 

 tail. The first of these and largest in size is the Falco urubitinga 

 of the older authors. Lesson in 1839 proposed to convert the term 

 Urubitinga into a generic name, and it was so adopted by Lafres- 

 naye in 1842, before the creation of Cabanis's genus Hypomorphnus 

 for the same type. See M. de Lafresnaye's remarks on this subject 

 in the 'Revue Zoologique' for 1848, p.* 240. With regard to the 

 specific name to be employed for this bird, we cannot use Brisson's 

 " brasiliensis" as is done in Strickland's 'Ornithological Synonyms,' 

 because Brisson'sf names are not to be employed in a binominal 

 system of nomenclature. Nor is it proper to adopt Illiger's MS. 

 term " longipes" as proposed in Prince Bonaparte's * Conspectus,' 

 while there are many other names for this bird already published. 

 So the earliest specific name available seems to be Shaw's zonurus 

 {Falco zonurus, Shaw's Zool. vii. p. 62), and this species should 

 stand as Urubitinga zonura. It appears to have an extensive range, 

 extending from Paraguay, all over Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Guiana and 

 New Granada into Southern Mexico, where specimens were obtained 

 by M. Salle. 



The second allied species of Urubitinga is the " Falco anthra- 

 cinus, Licht. in Mus. Berol.," under which name it is described by 

 Nitzsch in a note to his ■ Pterylographie ' (p. 83). This is the 

 same as Du Bus's Morphnus mexicanus (Bull. Ac. Brux. 1847). 

 See M. de Lafresnaye's observations in the 'Revue Zoologique' for 

 1848 (p. 240), where he clearly points out the differences between 

 this bird and the Urubitinga zonura. The Urubitinga anthracina 

 inhabits the northern portion of South America, Guiana £ and New 

 Granada§, Guatemala and Southern Mexico ||, where MM. Botteri 

 and Salle both procured it, and M. Du Bus's types were collected. 

 The third species is Urubitinga schistacea as characterized above, 

 which is distinguishable at once from the preceding by its inferior 

 size and narrower tail-band. The following diagnoses are sufficient 

 to point out the differences between these three species ^f : — 



1. U. zonura. Major, caudce dimidio basali et margine apicali 

 albis. 



* See P. Z. S. 1857, p. 261. 



f See British Association's Report on Zoological Nomenclature, rule 2, p. 5. 



t Schomburgk, Reisen in Brittisch Guiana, iii. p. 740. 



§ MM. Verreaux have received examples from Santa Martha. 



|| See P. Z. S. 1857, pp. 211 & 227. 



*j[ A fourth black Urubitinga, allied to U. anthracina, has lately been described 

 by Cabanis from Cuba under the name Hypomorphnus Gundlachii. See Cab. 

 Journ. f. Orn. 1854, Erinnerungs-heft, p. Ixxx. 



