( 335 ) 



etc., agree in the small size with the latter, and the intensity of coloration is subject 

 to much individual variation (cf. Xov. Zool. xii. 1905. p. 281). 



IK merula is easily distinguishable among its affines by its dark general 

 coloration, by the large whitish patch on the throat, and especially by having the 

 median and greater wiiig-coverts chestniit-rnfons like the remiges. It is widely 

 distributed in Amazonia, being found in Cayenne, British Guiaua, on tiie Orinoco 

 and its tributary the Gaura, on the Rio Negro, on the Araa^.ons and its affluents 

 from Para to the Ucayali.* 



197. Dendrocolaptes hoflfmannsi Hellm. 



Detidrocolaples linffmannsi Hellmayr, Bull. B. 0. C. xxiii. p. GG (1909. — C'alama, Allianoa : Rio 

 Madeira). 



No. 128. cJ ad., C'alama, 29. vi. 1907. "Iris brown, feet plnmbeons, bill 

 grey." — Wing 140 ; tail 120 ; bill 37 mm. T'/pe of species. 



No. 234. ? ad., C'alama, 15. vii. 1907. "Iris light grey, feet and bill grey." — 

 Wing 141 ; tail 132 ; bill 35 mm. 



No. 763. ¥ juv., AUianca, 8. .xi. 1907. " Iris brown, feet dark grey, bill 

 black."-Wing 132 ; tail 114 ; bill 36 mm. 



(? ad. Top of the head dull rufescent brown, each feather with a hair-like bntf 

 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-rnfons. Upper wing-coverts uniform brown like the back, those of the 

 greater series tinged with rufous on the inner web. Remiges deep cinnamon- 

 rufons, the outer primaries dusky at the tip and slightly edged with olivaceous 

 along outer web. Rectrices deep cinnamon-rufous, with the shafts nearly blackish. 

 Lores grey, with pale shaft-lines. Cheeks, auricular and temporal regions buff, 

 the feathers edged with brown or blackish ; above the eye a narrow line of buff 

 spots, edged with dark brown ; sides of the neck dull olive-brown, narrowly streaked 

 with buflf. CJhiu 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 au 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. Axillaries, 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 B. pallescens Pelz.f 

 and D. playosus Sal v. & Godm. J ; 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, etc. ; but D. pallescens 

 has no cinnamomeous tinge about the head, the blackish apical edges are much 

 less conspicuous and nearly obsolete on the hind-crown, while the much broader 



* Saraya(,'u, Castelnau cull, in Paris Museum. 



t Z-uT Oi-n. Bras. i. pp. 43, 61 (1867.— E-itira and Engenho do (iama. Western Mattogrosso). 



X Ibis 18«3. p. 210 (Camacusa, Brit. Guiana). 



