Bryant.] 250 



primaries, brightest next tlieir base. Tail dark brown, all tlie feath- 

 ers obscurely tipped as if faded, the outer web of the outer feathers 

 much lighter and margined with whitish most distinctly towards the 

 base, as if weathered. Beneath whitish, slightly ashy on the throat, 

 more distinctly so on the chest and flanks, and with a faint tinge of 

 yellow on the abdomen and crissum, under surface of wings showing a 

 pretty broad border of pale rufous on the inner margin of the primaries; 

 axillaries and under wing coverts pale yellow, much brighter than the 

 abdomen- Under surface of tciil hoary brown, the inner web of most 

 of the feathers with a small spot of pale rufous near the tip ; bill, tarsi 

 and toes dark blackish-brown. 



Todus. 



Todus hypochondriac us. Several specimens. This bird corresponds 

 quite closely to Lesson's description of T. mexicanus, but wants 

 the yellow margin to the scarlet gidar patch. It can be easily dis- 

 tinguished from any other of the described West Indian species by the 

 golden-yellow flanks ; this character I should have thought to be a 

 mark of immaturity, if I had not observed so large a number of the 

 Cuban and Jamaican varieties at the same period of the year when 

 these specimens were obtained, none of which presented any such 

 appearance. 



No. 36,450. Length of dried skin 90 ; wing from flexure 42 ; tail 

 28; tarsus 10^; middle toe and claw 12; claw alone 3; bill along 

 ridge 20; 3d, 4th and 5th primaries nearly equal and longest; 1st 

 shorter than the secondaries; 2d about equal to them. All above, 

 with closed wings and tail, bright green, with a slight yellowish tinge 

 next the nostrils ; the tip of the tail and bases of the outer primaries 

 slightly bluish ; outer edge of outer tail feathers ashy. Beneath, throat 

 bright scarlet, bordered on each side by a whitish line commencing at 

 the base of the rictal bristles and gradually shaded into the pearl-grey 

 of the fore neck and breast. Centre of abdomen nearly pure white 

 shaded anteriorly into the pearl-grey of the breast and posteriorly 

 and on the sides into the yellow of the crissum and the golden-yellow 

 of the hypochondriacs ; upper mandible dark brown, lower yellowish ; 

 tarsi and toes light yellowish-brown. The genus Todus has been 

 alternately placed with the kingfishers and the flycatchers, and lately 

 with the motmots. It has in structure no affinity with the first what- 

 ever, and its habits are entirely diilerent. Its plumage is loose, the 

 wings feeble and its legs long. It resembles the motmots in the serra- 

 tion of the edges of the mandibles, but the toes are not partially united 

 as in those birds ; the bill is excessively depressed and the tail short 

 and square, while its habits are totally dissimilar. 



