428 Mr. E. Hartert — Various 



obvious character of P. nattereri is the form and coloration 

 of the rectrices : they are very much narrower than in 

 P. longuemareus, which is of all species the nearest ally of 

 P. nattereri. P. rupurunii, Bouc. (spelt rupurumii in the 

 first description, Humm. B. ii. p. 1^ afterwards, Gen. Hum. 

 B. p. 384, altered into P. rupunmiii and P. rupuninii in the 

 index, while the name o£ the river is Rupuruni), is a very 

 distinct species of small size, the tail being in form between 

 that of a '' Pygmornis " and a Pha'ethornis. 



A number of additions and changes will be necessary in 

 the group of small species generally called Pygmornis. 



P. rioj(E, Berlepsch, from North Peru, is, judging from the 

 description, closely allied to P. striigularis, but diifers in 

 having a tuft of greenish-black feathers in the middle of the 

 breast, like P. pygmceus and allies, while the narrow white 

 borders to the rectrices are not a distinguishing character, 

 being also found in fully adult specimens of P. striigularis. 



P. chapadensis, Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. N. H. 1893, 

 p. 122, from Matto Grosso, is evidently the same as Ber- 

 lepsch^s P. nattereri, as a comparison of the descriptions 

 will show at once. 



Eremita ivhitelyi, Bouc. Gen. Humm. B. p. 390, is cer- 

 tainly not different from Pygmornis episcopus. The British 

 Museum possesses skins from the same localities as those 

 whence Boucard^s types came. 



With the best intentions to agree with the conclusions of 

 others, I cannot possibly see that there are sufficient reasons 

 for considering P. viridicaudata to be the female of P. idalicB. 

 Although the males of some species as they increase in age 

 grow darker on their under surface, there is no case in which 

 the male is dark grey below, the female rufous, nor has any 

 female longer wings. The longer tail of P. viridicaudata is 

 also, in my opinion, not the character of the female sex, but a 

 specific peculiarity, as the rectrices are not rounded and 

 broad, but pointed, and as the birds seem to be quite adult. 

 I trust that future explorations in Brazil will confirm my 

 view on this point, and that we shall learn the exact home of 

 both P. idaliae { = P. obscura) and P. viridicaudata. 



