PtATE XXXIII. 



TACHYPHONUS PH(ENICEUS. 



(RED-SHOUIDEEED TACHYPHONE). 



Tacliyphonus phaeniceiis . . . Sw. An. in Men. p. 311. 



Bp. Consp. 1, p. 237. 



TacTiyphonus saucius 

 Tachyphonus leucocampter 



Sclater, P.Z.S. 1856, p. 116. 

 Scl. et Salv. P.Z.S. 1867, p. 

 Strickl. Ann. N. H. xiii. p. 41&. 

 Licht. in Mus. Berol. 



Chalybeo-ater : tectricibus alarum minoribus superioribus albis, macula in campterio rubra, inferioribus omnino 

 albis : rostro nigro, mandibula albo notata : pedibus nigris : long, tota 6"3, alae 2'9, caudae 2'6. — Fam. Obscure 

 schistacea, dorso olivaceo tincto : alia caudaque nigricantibus, illarum marginibus brunnescenti-olivaceis : subtus 

 fulva, schistaceo perfusa. 



Sab. Brasil. int. Borba (Natt.) : Peruv. orient. Xeberos (Sartlett). 



In the second portion of his volume on " Animals in Menageries," wliich is devoted to 

 the description of new birds, Mr. Swainson shortly characterizes the present well-marked 

 species of Tachyphonus, from a specimen " in the collection of Mr. Horsfield of Everton, near 

 Liverpool, who believes it came from Fernando Po on the African coast." Mr. Swainson does 

 not, however, scruple to cast doubt upon this locality, observing that " if this is truly African, 

 it is a solitary exception to the strict geographic range of the whole family of Tanagers." Mr. 

 Swainson's criticism was well founded, for, as is now well known, the true home of this 

 Tachyphonus^ as of the rest of its congeners, is the New World, and not the Old. Examples 

 of it were obtained by the indefatigable Natterer, in the vicinity of Borba on the lower course 

 of the Madeira river, and more recently by Mr. E. Bartlett, at Xeberos in Eastern Peru, so that 

 it probably has a wide range in the interior of the great Amazonian wood-region. 



The peculiar colom-ing of this species of Tachyphone renders it easily distinguishable, 

 the blood-red hmneral spot being unique in the genus. It is likewise remarkable for possessing 

 rather a shorter and stouter bill than other birds of the same group. The somewhat dissimilar 

 male and female are clearly shewn^^o be connected by a young male specimen in transition- 

 plumage, in Sclater's collection. 



In 1844, the late Mr. Strickland described this species from a specimen in his own 

 collection, under the name Tachyphonus saucius. It has likewise received the MS. name 

 leucocampter in the Berlin Museum. 



Our figures are taken from skins in Sclater's collection, obtained, together with the young 

 male above-mentioned, by Mr. E. Bartlett, at Xeberos, in 1866. 



Decembee, 1867. 



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