Plate LXXX. 



FORMICIVORA STRIGILATA. 



(STEEAXED ANT-THEUSH). 



MijiotJiera strigilata . . . Max. Beitr. iii. p. 1064. 



Formicivora strigilata . . ^ Menetries, Mem. Ac. Imp. St. Pet. ser. vi. Sc. Nat. I. p. 493 (1835) : 



Mon. des Myioth. p. 51. 

 „ - . . Sel. P.Z.S. 1858, p. 242. 



Supra castanea, nigro striata ; alis nigris albo limbatis : superciliis et corpore subtus albis ; gutture toto cum 

 pectore nigris, hypochondriig fulvo perfasis ; cauda nigra, albo terminata, rectricibus duabus mediis castaneis : 

 subalaribus albis : rostro nigricante, pedibus fuscia : long, tota 5'5, alae 2'4, caudse rectr. med. 2'4, rectr. ext. 1'8, 

 rostri a rictu 0'8, tarsi 1'15. Fem. Mari similis, sed subtus omnino sordide alba, pectoris lateribus nigro striatis. 



Sah. in prov. Baliieusi Brasil. orient. {Max.). 



The late Prince IMaximilian of Neuwied — our best original authority upon the birds of 

 the wood-region of Eastern Brazil, described this beautiful Ant-Thrush in 1831, and still 

 remains the only writer who has spoken of it from personal observation. Prince Max. tells 

 us that he met with it singly and in pairs, in the dense thickets of the forests of Bahia. It is 

 generally seen running upon the ground, or hopping among the lower branches about a foot 

 from the earth. Its call consists of three notes, which are audible at some distance, and is 

 common to the two sexes. 



Formicivova strigilata is a typical member of the genus, though of rather lar'ger dimensions 

 and stronger form than its immediate allies. It does not very closely resemble any other 

 described species, but appears to come nearest to F. rufatra of Sclater's Catalogue, of which 

 Myothera rufa of Prince Max. is the female. In the latter species, as in the present bird, 

 the black throat and breast are characteristic of the male sex, arid are replaced by striations in 

 the female. 



Though bird skins are' collected in the neighbourhood of Bahia in large quantities, the 

 present Ant-Thrush seems to be by no means of common occurrence. At the date of the 

 compilation of his Catalogue of, American Birds Sclater was not in possession of specimens of 

 it, but has since obtained of the dealers in Paris examples of both sexes, from which our figures 

 have been taken. These specimens present the usual form of skins of Bahian preparation, 

 and, we have little doubt, were originally received from that province ; indeed, as far as we are 

 aware, th"?!|. species is confined to this district of the Brazilian Empire, for neither Burmeister ^ 

 nor Natterer, nor any other collector in the more southern provinc,es appears to have met vrith it. / 



jANUAiiy, 1869. 



L 159 ] 



