CYANOMYIA CYANOCEPHALA. 



Black-billed Azure-crown. 



Ornismya cyanocephala, Less. Supp. des Ois. Mou., p. 134. pi. 18. 



So great is the confusion which exists respecting the synonymy and species of this form, that I might be 

 held excused were I to give new specific appellations to at least two of them, namely the one here repre- 

 sented, and the one I have figured as Cyanomyia quadricolor; the case is very different with the C. Francice 

 of M. Bourcier and the C. cyanicottis of myself, as the types of both of these are in existence and well known. 

 Lesson states that the quadricolor and the cyanocephala both inhabit Brazil ; but the truth is, that the form 

 does not exist in that country. The present bird, for which I retain the name of cyanocephala, rather than 

 add another to the already too numerous synonyms of the group, like the quadricolor, is a native of Mexico 

 and Guatemala : it is found rather abundantly in the neighbourhood of Orizaba, whence numerous examples 

 have been sent to England by M. Botta, none of which offer the slightest difference from those collected in 

 the more southern regions of Guatemala by M. Riviera Paz, and sent to me direct by Mr. Skinner. 



The Cyanomyia cyanocephala is not so finely coloured as the Bogota species, C. Francis, the only one with 

 which it could be confounded. 



The only external difference observable in the sexes consists in the blue crown being nearly obsolete in 



the female. 



Crown of the head and occiput shining greenish blue ; all the upper surface, wing-coverts, and flanks 

 bronzy green ; wings purplish brown ; tail greenish bronze ; throat and centre of the abdomen white ; under 

 tail-coverts greyish olive, fringed with white; sides of the neck green, but less brilliant than in C. Francice ; 



bill black. 



The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Habrothamnus fasciculatus. 



