156 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ANTCATCIIER. 



ist.s to consiilor many as species, that really do not exist, as such, in 

 nature. 



The nest of these birds is hemispherical, varying in magnitude accord- 

 ing to the size of the species, composed of dried grass, rudely inter- 

 woven ; it is fixed to small trees, or attached by each side to a branch, 

 at the distance of two or three feet from the ground. The eggs are 

 nearly round, and three or four in number. 



The discovery of any species of this genus in the old world is quite 

 recent, and it had previously been believed that the genus was peculiar 

 to South America ; and though the existence of ant-destroying birds 

 was suspected in other tropical regions, they were supposed to be gene- 

 rically distinct from those of the corresponding parts of America, as 

 was known to be the fact in the ease of the ant-eating quadrupeds. 

 This opinion was founded on the admitted axiom, that nature always 

 varies her groups in reniote tropical regions having no communication 

 with each other. The reverse, however, is the fact in the case of the 

 ant-catching birds, as we find perfect analogies between the species 

 residing in those distant parts of the globe, even throughout the differ- 

 ent scetiiMis into which the genus may be divided. 



The Roeky--\Iountaiu Antcateher is six inches long. The bill, 

 measured from the cornor of the mouth, is more than one inch in length, 

 being slightly curved ahnost from the base ; it is very slender, being 

 nearly two-eighths of an inch in diameter at the base, and only the six- 

 teenth of an inch in the middle, whence it continues to diminish to the 

 tip ; and is of a dark horn color, paler beneath. The feet are dusky ; 

 and the length of the tarsus is seven-eighths of an inch. The iridcs are 

 dark brown ; the whole plumage above is of a dusky brownish, slightly 

 undulated with pale, tinted with dull ferruginous on the top of the head 

 and superior portions of the back. The sides of the head arc dull 

 whitish, with a broad brown line passing through the eye to the com- 

 mencement of the neck. The chin, throat, and breast are whitish, each 

 feather being marked by a longitudinal line of light brown. The belly 

 is white: and the flanks are slightly tinged with ferruginous. The 

 primaries are entirely destitute of undulations or spots ; the tail coverts 

 are pale, each with four or five fuscous bands ; the inferior tail coverts 

 are white, each being bifaseiate with blackish brown. The tail is nearly 

 two inches long, rounded, broadly tipped with ferruginous yellow, and 

 having a narrow black band before the tip ; the remaining part of the 

 tail is of the same color with the wings, and is obsoletely banded, these 

 bands being more distinct on the two middle feathers, which are desti- 

 tute of the black and yellowish termination; the exterior feather is 

 dusky at tip, marked by four yellowish-white spots on the exterior, and 

 by two larger ones on the inner web. 



The specimen of the Rocky-Mountain Antcatcher we are describing 



