4:36 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Genus MICROPHILA Chubb. 



Microphila Chubb, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. x.) p. 192, Feb. 1921. 

 Typt! M. cas(a7ieivent}ns (Cab.). 



Fig. I(i4. — JItc)'ojj/ii/(i ottsla neiveiitris. 



The chief characters of the species that I suggest for separation 

 as a new genus, are the straight cuhuen, not arched or semi- 

 circular as in Sporophila, and the more rounded tail. Its small 

 size and peculiar coloration also help to distinguish it. Tvpe 

 M. castaneiventris (Cab.). 



Kei/ to the Species.- 



A. Lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 



grey like the greater portion of the 



upper surface M. castaneiventris, p. 436. 



B. Lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 



bright chestnut in contrast to the rest 



of the upper surface M. minuta, p. 438. 



^2Q. Microphila castaneiventris. 

 Chestnut-bellied Seed-eater. 



Sporophila castaneiventris Cab. in Schomb. Reis. Guian. iii. p. 079, 

 1848 ; Beebe, Our Search for a Wilderness, p. 171, 1910 ; Brabourne 

 & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 365, no. 3743, 1912 ; Beebe, Tropical 

 Wild Life in British Guiana, p. 136, 1917. 



Spermophila castaneiventris Salvin, Ibis, 1885, p. 214 (Bartica Grove") ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xii. p. 108, 1888 (Bartica Grove); 

 Quelch, Timehri (2) v. p. 84, 1891 (Georgetown). 



" Blue-backed Seed-eater '^ {Beehe). 



Adult male. General colour of the upper surface dark ash-grey 

 including the crown of the head, entire back, scapulars, and upper 

 tail-coverts ; upper wing-coverts, bastard-wing, and innermost 

 secondaries black margined with ash-grey ; priniary-coverts and 



