306 



Zoological Society : — 



seum were obtained on the island of Puna in the gulf of Guyaquil 

 by -Ml". Barclay. 



Melanoptila. gen. nov. 



Melanoptila, genus novum e familia Turdidarum. Rostrum 

 rectum, modicce longitudinis, fere ut in genere Turdo, sed te- 

 ?iuius et vibrissis rictalibifs nullis : alee breves, ad finem sub- 

 caudulium atfingentes, remige prima brevi,secunda secundarias 

 co-cequante, tertia longiore, sed a quarta, quinta, et sexta, 

 cequalibus et longissimis, siqjerata : cauda fovga, apice rotun- 

 data : pedes antice scutellatfE prout in genere Turdo. 



9. M. GLABRIROSTRIS. 



M. nigra nnicolor, cceruleo-nitens : alis caudaque ceneo magis 

 splendentibus : rostro et pedibus nigris. 



Long, tota /"S, alse 3'5, caudfe 3'3, tarsi TOo. 



Hab. In rep. Honduras, prope urbem Omoa, 



I first observed specimens of this curious bird in the Derby Mu- 

 seum at Liverpool. They were procured in Honduras by Delattre, 

 and an excellent example from the same source is in the British 

 Museum. A single specimen in my own collection was obtained, 

 with other birds, by Mr. Joseph Leyland in the vicinity of Omoa at 

 the extremity of the Bay of Honduras. 1 know of no other Ame- 

 rican form which much resembles it in plumage or in structure, and 

 am rather puzzled as to its proper arrangement in the Natural 

 Svstem. It must however, I think, come within the limits of the 



