368 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



M. C. Z. 84,578, Lafr. coll. 8,490. Adult — wing, 111.0; tail, 83.5; 

 tarsus, 24.0; culmen from base of forehead, 35.5. 



Range. — Trinidad. 



Specimens examined. — Trinidad: 1 adult and 1 immature; un- 

 specified, 1. Total, 3. 



Remarks. — In his work on the birds of Trinidad, Leotaud {lor. cif.) 

 described a new Woodhewer under the name Dendrocolapics aliirostris, 

 stating that the validity of the species had been confirmed by Lafres- 

 naye to whom the type had been sent. Lafresnaye was to have re- 

 turned it to Leotaud, but owing to the Baron's death this had never 

 been done. Leotaud (loc. cif., p. 167) says: 



" L'altirostris comme le jncus se tient parmi les mangliers. II 

 parait etre tres rare ici, car je n'ai jamais pu obtenir qu'un seul exem- 

 plaire. Je I'ai envoye a M. de Lafresnaye qui daignait alors m'ac- 

 corder pour mon travail son concours aussi bien\'ieillant qu'eclaire. 

 II devait, a mon priere, me renvoyer I'exemplaire quand la mort I'a 

 surpris: mon altirostris fait done partie jusqu'aujom-d'hui fle la col- 

 lection qu'a laissee le Baron." 



Chapman did not meet with the species while in Trinidad, but on 

 the strength of Lafresnaye's opinion, as cited by Leotaud, included it 

 under the name Dendrocolaptes altirostris in his list of the birds of 

 Trinidad (CY. Bull. Amer. mus. nat. hist., 1894, 6, p. 48). On the 

 other hand Hellmayr (Nov. zool., 1906, 13, p. 59) disposes of the 

 name in the hypothetical list at the end of his paper on the birds of 

 Trinidad, giving his reasons for so doing. 



The type, which is easily identified from Leotaud's description, has 

 two labels — one in a handwriting we take to be Leotaud's, bearing 

 simply the words '' Xipfiorynchus altirostris, femelle," and the other 

 made out by Lafresnaye reading, " il ne differe du picus que par sa 

 mand. plus arquee et par ses plumes ecailleuses ventral es plus grandes 

 et plus prolonguees vers I'anus." 



The second specimen, M. C. Z. 77,155, Lafr. coll. 2,280, apparently 

 had also been sent to Lafresnaye by Leotaud. It also has two labels — - 

 the first on paper exactly like that of the type, and in the same hand- 

 wTiting, bearing the words, " Dendroplcx nlgrirostrisf organes sexuels 

 atrophies," and the second made out by Lafresnaye, reading, "Dendro- 

 plcx picus 9 ? rostro et ales brevioribus Trinidad." This specimen is 

 ob^'iously an immature bird, with blackish bill, the culmen less curved 

 than in the type of altirostris, but much heavier than in true picus of 

 Guiana. The spotting of the under parts is less pronounced than in 

 the adult, l)ut decidedly more so than in true picus. 



