(23) 



Dr. Bianchi. This species is quite new to the fauna of the Lower Amazons, 

 though it was collected near Borba, on the Rio Madeira, by Natterer. It is the 

 largest and finest member of the genus, and readily known by its bright chestnut 

 back. Perhaps it is nearest to the recently described C. roberti Hellm., but, besides 

 being very much larger, differs from it in many ways. The bill is much stronger 

 and entirely black ; there is no white on the under parts, the whole breast being deep 

 black, and the silky white superciliary stripe commences above instead of behind 

 the eye. 



C. rusbyi Allen is doubtless the ? of C. melanogastra, the description agreeing 

 perfectly with Natterer's hen birds from Borba. 



In the young bird the crown is dull black, with irregular, pale rufous bars, the 

 back of a clearer chestnut than in the adult, and crossed by some blackish bauds. 

 Breast and abdomen are pale fulvous, barred and spotted with blackish; and the 

 upper wing-coverts have a blackish apical margin, followed by a ciuuamomeous 

 subtermiual baud. 



52. Phoethornis rupurumii amazonicus Hellm. 

 FhaMhornis rupurumii amazonicus Hellrnayr, Bull. Brit. Orn. CI. xvi. (April 1906) p. 8'2. 



No. 468. ¥ fere ad., Itaituba, 19. i. 00. " Iris, feet and bill black, base of lower 

 mandible light green." Type of subspecies. — Wing 44 ; rectr. mod. 47 ; r. submed. 

 37; r. ext. 18; bill 28 mm. 



No. 571. c? ad., Urucurituba, 12. ii. 06. Soft parts as above, but base of lower 

 mandible yellowish green. — Wing 46; rect. med. 49, r. submed. 30, r. ext. 19; 

 bill 28A mm. 



No. 492. S jnv., Itaituba, 26. i. 06. Soft parts as in No. 468.— Wing 45 ; 

 rectr. med. 45|, r. submed. 32, r. ext. 18 ; bill 25 mm. 



This interesting new form is a near ally of P. r. rupurumii of British Guiana 

 and the Orinoco region, the proportions of the tail feathers being exactly the same 

 in both, but it differs at a glance by its buff under tail-coverts and by the pale 

 cinnamon apical margins to the three outermost rectrices (on each side). In a series 

 of more than twenty skins of P. r. rupurumii, both the crissnm and the apical 

 margins to the rectrices are pure white ; only the outermost pair shows there 

 sometimes a faint isabelline tinge. 



In the type specimen (No. 468) the whole under surface is strongly washed 

 with buff, and the snperciliaries as well as the broad malar stripe are of a bright 

 golden bnff. The S ad. (No. 571) is much duller underneath, more buffy greyish, 

 but the under tail-coverts are even brighter buff than in the type. 



The third example is a yonng bird with rufous edges to the feathers of the 

 crown and back. It is considerably darker, more brownish on the under parts, and 

 the lower mandible lacks almost entirely the blackish tip which, in the two other 

 specimens, occupies a little less than the apical half. The under tail-coverts and 

 the three outer tail feathers are exactly as in the adults. 



P. squalidus (Temm.), of S.E. Brazil, differs from the new form by its much 

 darker, almost wood-brown (Ridgw. Nomencl. iii. 19) under parts, aud by the lack of 

 the blackish subterminal area on the outer rectrices. Besides, the middle pair of 

 the tail feathers is much more elongated. 



]'. squalidus, P. r. rupurumii, and P. r. amazonicus undoubtedly form a 

 natural group,_being characterised by the scaly appearance of the throat, etc. etc, 



