BED-THROATED PIHA. 



Querula rubricollis^ VIEILLOT. 

 PLATE I. 



Deep black ; the male with feathers of the throat rigid, nar- 

 row, and deep crimson. 



Le grand Gobe-mouche de Cayenne, Bris. Orn. ii. 386, PI. 

 Enl. 381. Le Piauhau, Le Vaill. Ois. de VAmeriq. PI. 47, 

 48. Muscicapa rubricollis, Linn. A uct. Querula rubricollis, 

 VieiUotGal PI. 115. 



ALTHOUGH by no means scarce, this singular bird 

 appears confined to those limited portions of tropical 

 America which constitute the colonies of Demerara, 

 Surinam, and their immediate neighbourhood. In 

 size, and in the general structure of its bill, wings, 

 and feet, it bears a stronger resemblance to the 

 chatterers than to the flycatchers ; and Le Vail- 

 lant, who was also acquainted with its habits, makes 

 no scruple of placing it in the genus Ampelis. Bris- 

 son, on the contrary, as well as all the writers of the 

 Linnaean school, regarded it as a flycatcher, influ^ 

 enced, no doubt, by a consideration of the short but 

 strong bristles at the gape, which plainly indicates 

 that the bird is insectivorous. Le Yaillant is eri- 



