546 PKOCE'EODINGS OF THE NATIOiN'AiL MUSEfU'M vol.89 



Family MOMOTIDAE 



ASPATHA GULARIS (Lafresnaye) 



Prionites gularis Latbesnaye, Rev. Zool., 1840, p. 130 (Guatemala). 



On November 23, near Sierra Santa Elena, Axel Pira killed one 

 of these curious motmots on the wing as it flew through the cypress 

 woods at 8,600 feet elevation. On the evening of November 25 the 

 two of us walked out along open trails to examine some holes that 

 we had found in the hope of securing more of these strange birds. 

 The air was chill and a thin fog lay over the mountainside, but the 

 moon shone through sufficiently to light our way, and we used our 

 flashlights only to avoid stepping into mudholes. Near a little gate 

 we found a perpendicular bank of black earth 8 feet in height. The 

 first few holes in the face of this bank yielded nothing. In the last 

 one examined the beam of the flashlight revealed the bright eye of a 

 little wren peering out from the far end. Leaving this place we went 

 by obscure trails far down the mountainside to another cutbank 

 placed in an opening in the woods. In the first hole, a shallow one, 

 the bright eyes of a rat glistened in the light like smooth black but- 

 tons. As she dashed out she brought with her, apparently attached 

 to her nipples, two small young, which we replaced in the tunnel. 

 Several holes were empty, but in the last one a flexible stick brought 

 immediately a scuttling noise and a flash of green feathers, and a 

 motmot came out, followed at once by its companion. In our hands 

 they made no struggle, lying limp as if nearly dead. I was interested 

 to note how the three black marks on the "ears" and the center of the 

 breast stood out and how the light blue of the throat gleamed in the. 

 illumination from the flashlight. The two were male and female, 

 and with these we climbed slowly up the mountain paths past the 

 mill to the house. 



MOMOTUS LESSONII LESSONII Lesson 



Momotus Lessonii Lesson, Rev. Zool., vol. 5, Jnue 1842, p. 174 (Realejo, 

 Nicaragua). 



In a coffee finca, at 3,200 feet near Las Lajas, below Alotenango, 

 on November 29 a Lesson's motmot flew to the limb of a tree where 

 my first impression of it was that it was a jay. In dim light the 

 blue of the crown was clearly visible almost as if it were luminescent. 

 This specimen I collected. The following day in this same region 

 I watched another for some time. It was alert, and, though it re- 

 mained for some time on each perch that it sought, either the tail 

 was in motion or the head was moving as the bird looked about. The 



