176 BLACK-HEADED TODY. 



&c., that the superior mandible is very entire, and 

 rounded at the extremity " mandilula superiors 

 mtegerrima apice rotundata." In other words, this 

 is the exact description of the hill of T')dus viridi* ; 

 while, in every thing that regards size and colour, 

 M. Desmarest's description is perfectly applicable to 

 the bird now before us. Thus we have, in his 

 Todus cinereus, a species with the colours of nu>l<i- 

 nocephalus and the bill of viridls. Our present 

 species carries us one remove farther from the type, 

 and exhibits a bird with the plumage of cinereus, 

 but with a bill very strongly notched, and suddenly 

 bent down at the tip, after the manner of all denti- 

 rostral types. What the Todus cinereus of the old 

 authors really is, can now hardly be ascertained, 

 it having since been discovered that their descrip- 

 tion is applicable to four or five species now known. 

 Little further requires to be added to the specific 

 character above given. The size is rather smaller 

 than that of the green tody, especially in the head. 

 The upper plumage is very dark cinereous, with a 

 few shades of olive on the back ; the front of the 

 head and lores are deep black, which blends on the 

 crown and ears with the cinereous of the upper 

 parts; the greater and lesser covers, and all the 

 quills, are deep black, edged externally with yellow 

 or yellowish- white ; the tail is graduated and deep 

 black, the lateral feathers being tipt with white : all 

 the under parts are yellow. The toes differ from 

 those of viridis ; the outer and middle are only con- 

 nected as far as the first joint, and the inner has the 



