259 



the back and wings and the blue of the middle tail-feathers and pri- 

 maries are more pure in this species than in the other. The size 

 also of the two birds is nearly the same : in the tail there is this dif- 

 ference, that the four middle feathers of the present Motmot are of 

 equal length. We owe this second species of Motmot to Dombe, a 



zealous naturalist The Houtou is found in Guiana ; the 



Motmot Dombe inhabits the forests in the environs of Lima. The 

 traveller I have named assures me that it is very common there, and 

 that he had not remarked any difference between many individuals 

 that he had seen of this species and the two he had brought back, 

 of which one was deposited with many other beautiful birds of Peru 

 in the cabinet of the king. It is a pity that this individual has been 

 entirely destroyed by fumigations of sulphur and by insects ; as to 

 the othei', we know not what has become of it." 



Such is Le Vaillant's account. Supposing it to be accurate, the 

 species appears distinct, from any other known. But no such bird 

 has been recognized by any other author, nor is to be found, as far 

 as my experience goes, in any collection. As for its frequency in 

 the vicinity of Lima, I am inclined to doubt the fact. Von Tschudi 

 gives us accounts of three Motmots that inhabit the Cisandean wood- 

 region of Peru, but says nothing of one occurring in the coast- 

 region ; nor do I believe that any species of the family occurs on the 

 western side of the Andes. Had this bird been common about Lima 

 he could hardly have missed it, collecting so much as he did in that 

 quarter. I cannot help thinking therefore that Le Vaillant's figure 

 and description are inaccurate, having been made after the "moths 

 and fumigations " had operated upon the specimen, or perhaps from 

 Dombe's recollections. In such case the Motmot dombe' was pro- 

 bably the Momotus cyanogaster, which does occur in Eastern Peru, 

 and has the medial rectrices whole. 



2. "Momotus psahtrus, Puch." ; Bp. Compt. Rend. 1854. 

 xxxviii. p. 659, et Notes Orn. s. 1. coll. Delattre, p. 88. 



Prince Bonaparte, in his communication to the French Academy 

 on the collections made by M. Delattre in Nicaragua, has given a 

 short account of this species, which I subjoin : — " Les exemplaires 

 rapportes de Nicaragua par M. Delattre sont intermediaires entre 

 momotus et bahamensis pour les couleurs comme pour la localite(I). 

 La calotte noire est en effet moins etendue que dans le P. bahamensis, 

 mais plus que dans P. momotus et entouree par la teinte aigue-marine 

 meme posterieurement, le bleu n' occupant que la pointe des longues 

 plumes : les couvertures inferieures des ailes sont rousses ainsi que 

 la ventre et les cuisses : les appendicules des pennes de la queue 

 sont beaucoup plus larges que dans les autres especes : le coup d'ceil 

 exerce* de M. Pucheran a distingue a cause de cela dans nos galeries 

 ce beau Volucre, notre seconde espece, sous le nom de Pr. psalurus." 



I can make no other suggestion concerning this species than that 

 it is probably the same as M. lessoni. Dr. Pucheran utterly dis- 

 claims the paternity of the name which Prince Bonaparte has thus 

 attempted to affiliate on him. 



