Plate XXXI. 



LANIO AURANTIUS. 



(OEMGE LAOTO). 



Lanio aurantms . . Lafr. Eev. Zool. 1846, p. 204. 



Bp. Consp. p. 241. 

 Gray, Gen. of B. App. p. 16. 

 Du Bus, Esquiss. Orn. t. sxi. 



Sclater, P.Z.S. 1856, pp. 119, 303 ; 1857, p. 229, et Cat. A. B. p. 83. 

 Selat. et Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 15. 



Plavissimus, pectore ferrugineo tincto : capite toto cum gutture alls et cauda nigris : tectricibus alarum minori- 

 bus et subalaribus albis : rostro et pedibus nigris : long, tota S'O, alse 4'3, caudse 3'8. — Fosm, supra brunnea, uropygio 

 flavicante, capite cinerascente ; subtus olivaceo-flava, gutture cinereo, crisso fulvo tiucto : alis et caud;l fuscis. 



Sai. in Mexico Meridionali et Guatemala. 



This finely-coloured species of Lanio was first made known by the late Baron de la Fresnaye, 

 in one of his numerous ornithological articles contributed to the Revue Zoologique. Lafi-esnaye 

 was, however, in error as to its patria, which he gives as "Columbia." In Sclater's " Synopsis 

 of the Tanagridaj, published in the Zoological Society's Proceedings" for 1856, this mistake 

 was corrected upon the faith of specimens collected in Honduras by Dyson, and in Southern 

 Mexico by Salle. The range of this Lanio is, in fact, confined to the Central American Isthmus 

 north of Costa Eica, in Avhich country its place is taken by the allied Lanio leucothorax. Besides 

 M, Salle's specimens from Orizaba, already alluded to, M. Boucard obtained examples at 

 Santecomapam, in the State of Vera Cruz, in March, 1857; and we have seen it in other 

 collections from Southern Mexico. In Guatemala Mr. Salvin found it abundant in the forests 

 of Northern Vera Paz. Soutli of this we have no record of its existence, though it may 

 probably extend into Honduras and Nicaragua. 



The Tanagers of the genius Lanio are strict denizens of the vii-gln forests of Neotropical 

 America. Mr. Salvin met with this species during his excursions into the lower wood-region of 

 Vera Paz in the beginning of 1862, and observed it always amongst the lower branches of the 

 higher trees. In this situation it is usually met with in pairs, associating with such fruit-loving 

 birds as Pityliis poUogaster^ Euplionia Mvundinacea^ and Tanagra diaconiis^ and subsisting 

 principally upon the same diet. 



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