3o2 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIAXA. 



Genus MOMOTUS Briss. 



Momotus Brisson, Orn. iv. p. 4()o, 1760. Type 21. momota (Linn.). 



This genns is chiefly distinguished by the long and very 

 graduated tail, the short lateral feathers being about equal to, or 

 exceeded by, the length of the upper tail-coverts; the middle 

 feathers, which are much the hnigest, have a well-defined racket. 



227. Momotus momota. 



Common Motmot. 



Rnmpliastos momota Linn. Syst. Xat. 12th ed. i. p. 122, 1766 (Cayenne). 

 Pionifes momota Cab. in Schomb. Keis. Guian. iii. p. 704, 184^8. 

 Momotus brasiliensis Salvin, Ibis, 1886, p. 60 (Bartiea Grove, Merume 



Mts.. Atapurau River, Roraima, 3500 ft.) ; Quelch, Timehri (2) iv. 



p. ;320, 1890 (Upper Berbice River). 

 Momotus momota Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 319, 1892 (Demerara) ; 



Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 96, no. 908, 1912. 



''Kootoo" (Quelch). 



Adult female. General colour above and below green, brighter 

 and more grass-green above, duller below, where the bases of the 

 feathers are rust brown and show through the _^reen surface 

 more or less ; outer aspect of bast;ird-wing, primary-coverts, and 

 quills blue, inner webs of quills for the most partf blackish; tail 

 bkie towards the apical portion with blackish-brown tips to the 

 feathers ; crown of head, lores, and an elongated patch surround- 

 ing the eye black ; forehead pale blue, as is also a spot joining the 

 eye and the upper margin of the black behind the eye ; occipital 

 plumes ultramarine blue, nuchal patch chestnut, a small patch of 

 feathers on the breast black edged with pale blue. 



Total length 435 mm., culraen 35, wing 140, tail 255, tarsus 26. 



The female described was collected at Bartiea. 



Adult male. Like the adult female, ^'ing 145 mm. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Nest. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



Ji^ggs. Undescribed from British Guiana, 



Range in British Guiana. Upper Takutu ^lountains, Ituribisi 

 River, Supenaam Kiver. Bartiea. Kamakabra River, Great Falls, 

 Deuierara River, Bonasika River, Mazaruni River {McConnell 

 collection) ; Bartiea, l\Ierume Mountains, Kamarang River, Mount 

 Roraima, 3500 feet ( TT liifehi) ; Berbice River, Coomacka {Quelch). 



