133 



"yellom" is also capable of bearing the meaning "auburn" or even 

 "chestnut;" it appears to me that the name " xanthopterus," 

 though eminently calculated to mislead as applied to this bird, is 

 perbaps not sufficiently inaccurate to require to be replaced by a new 

 name. I have therefore retained Professor Burmeister's appellation 

 for this species. His single example was obtaiued in tbe vicinity of 

 New Fnburg in the province of Rio de Janeiro. Those in the British 

 Museum and my own coUection have the ordinary appearance of 

 iirasihan skms, and are probably from Rio or Bahia. 



I do not know what has iuduced Prof. Burmeister to attempt to 

 change Cabanis's correctly formed generic term Dysithamnus into 

 Dasythamnus ; but in this, as in other instances, that author seems 

 to undervalue the principle of priority, now universally recognized 

 m the apphcation of names in Natūrai History. 



11. Thamnophilus mel,anothorax. 



Supra intense castaneus, re7nigibus alarum intus nigricanti-brun- 

 neis, lateribus capitis et corpore subtus ad imum pectus atris, 

 hoc colore in ventrem sensim dilutiore : vetitre et lateribus oli- 

 vascenti-brunneis rufo tinctis : cauda unicolore castanea : rostro 

 corneo, pedibus nigro-fuscis. 

 Long. totą 6*5, alse 3-2, caudse 2-8. 

 Hab. In America Meridionali ? 

 Mus. Brit, 



I haye never met with but the single' example of this curious bird 

 which is in the British Museum. The genus Thamnophilus is the 

 ouly one I know of m which it can be placed ; but the bill is more 

 couical and thicker and rather shorter than in the birds of that 

 group, which most nearly approach it in size. There are two white 

 spots 011 the outer secondaries of the specimen, but these are evi- 

 dently the results of an incipient albinism. 



12. Thamnophilus MELANOCEPS. 



Thamnophilus melanoceps, Spix, Av. Bras. ii. pi. 39. fig. 1, p, 28. 



Ferrugineo-rufus, subtus clarior : capite toto undique et colio 

 supero nigris : rostro et pedibus nigris. 



Long. totą 7-0, alae 3'2, caudse 2-4. 



Hab. Eastem Peru, Sarayacu on the Ucayali (Cast. et Dev.). 



Mus. Paris. 



I was not acąuauited with this fine species of Thamnophilus when 

 I wrote the article on the arrangement of those birds in the ' Edin- 

 burgh N. Phil. Journal.* I have since seen several examples in the 

 Museum of the Jardin des Plautes, which were obtained by MM de 

 Castelnau and Deville at Sarayacu on the Ucayali. The irides are 

 marked " orange." 



