■ilU BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



The ridge of the culmen on the upper mandible is very narrow, 

 and the oonys on the lower mandible is sharply keeled, the base 

 being furnished with rietal bristles. The wings are rounded, the 

 innermost secondaries being nearly as long as the primary-quills. 



The tail is long and graduate, the middle feathers usually like 

 the back, while the lateral ones are of a different colour. 



The legs are short and the feet small ; the toes are four in 

 number, two directed forward and two backward, the claws being 

 small but very sharp. 



There are six genera and twenty-six species, and their distribu- 

 tion is confined to Central and South America — from South 

 Mexico to Paraguay. All the genera and species occur in South 

 America. 



Four of the genera and seven of the species are represented in 

 British Guiana. 



Genus UEOGALBA Bonap. 



Uroaalba Bonaparte, Consp. Volucr. Zyg. p. 13, 1Sj4. Type U. dea 

 (Linn.). 



This raouotypic genus is distinguished by having a very 

 graduated tail, the two middle feathers extending far beyond the 

 others, and the plumage being for the most part black. The bill 

 compressed and pointed. 



318. Urogalba dea. 

 Paradise Jacamar. 



Alcedo dea Linn. Syst. Xat. 10th ed. i. p. 116, 1758 (Surinam). 



Galbula paradisea (Linn. 1766), Cab. in Schomb. Eeis. Guian. iii. 

 p. 717, 1S4S. 



Urogalba paradisea Salvin. Ibis, 1886, p. 66 (Bartica Grove, Merume 

 Mts.); W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1887, p. 318 (Maecasseema) ; Sclater, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xix. p. 163, 1891 (Demerara ) ; Beebe, Our 

 Search for a "Wilderness, p. 171, 1910 (Hoorie Creek). 



Urogalba dea Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 161, no. 1582, 1912. 



Adult female. Head dark smoky-brown ; back, wings, and tail 

 black with steel-blue, purple, and green reflections, more brightly 

 on the upper wing-coverls : inner webs of primary and secondary 

 quills white at the base ; tail much graduated, the lateral feathers, 

 much shorter than the middle pair, are edged with white at the 

 tips ; chin sooty-brown, darker and inclining to black on the 

 cheeks ; a triangular patch of white on the fore-neck ; remainder 



