CICCAEA. 27 



Eastern Mexican State of Tamaulipas, and thence spreads over the whole of Central 

 America to Colombia and Venezuela ; C. squamulata is confined to Western Mexico 

 from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the State of Sinaloa. These two species have four 

 or five allies in South America, occupying the greater portion of the tropical part of 

 that continent. 



A. Ptilods nigra, alio iransfasciata. 



1. Ciccaba nigrolineata. 



Ciccaba huhula, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 96 (aec Daudin) \ 



Syrnium nigrolineatum, Scl. Trans. Z. S. iv. p. 268, t.QB''; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 276 ' ; 



Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 238 *. 

 Ciccaba nigrolineata, Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 131 ' ; Salv. Ibis, 1866, p. 195 " ; P. Z. S. 1870, p. 216 ' ; 



Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 132 " ; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 37 ' ; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 



1869, p. 366 "; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 164". 



Supra nigra, alls et dorso vix brunneo tinctis ; uropygio anguste albo transfasciato, cervice postica et corpore 

 toto subtus albis, nigro frequenter transfasciatis, superciliis albo maculatis ; alls extus albo anguste fasciatis, 

 facie et mento nigris ; cauda nigra, albo quadrifasciata ; tibiis albo et nigro crebre fasciatis : rostro 

 et digitis flavis. Long, tota circa 15'0, alee 10-5, caudse 6-5, tarsi 2-3. (Descr. exemp]. ex Tapana, 

 Tehuantepec. Mug. nostr.) 



Juv. Capite summo et dorso toto albis, nigro, sicut corpore subtus, transfasciatis. 



Hab. Mexico ( Verreaux''-^), Jalapa {Ferrari-Perez ^i), Tapana, Sta.Efigenia*, Cacoprieto*, 

 Tehuantepec city^ [F. Sumichrast), Tapana {Mus. Boston); British Honduras, Cayo 

 {Blancaneaux) ; Guatemala, {mus. Rothschild), Mazatenango {Dr. Bernoulli ^), 

 ^ Cahabon {Champion) ; Nicaragua, Mombacho {W. B. Bichardson) ; Costa Rica^°, 

 San Jose {v. Frantzius ^) ; Panama, Boquete de Chitra {Arce '^). — Colombia 

 {Mus. Brit.). 



Ciccaba nigrolineata belongs to a small but peculiar section of the genus distinguished 

 by their black-and-white plumage, unrelieved by any other colour. It has a near ally 

 in C. huhula of South America, to which the first specimens procured were attributed ^ 

 but was soon after separated by Mr. Sclater and figured in the ' Transactions of the 

 Zoological Society of London' 2. The chief points of diffierence are its uniform dark 

 back and head, on which are no narrow white cross-bands, and by the under surface 

 being white with black cross-bands instead of the reverse, as in C. huhula. 



Though widely distributed in our region, it is nowhere common, and specimens have 



reached us at rare intervals. The original type formed part of a collection received by 



Verreaux from some part of Mexico ^ ; Don Fernando Ferrari-Perez found it at Jalapa, 



and Sumichrast in several instances on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. M. Blancaneaux 



sent us a skin from Cayo, on the Belize river, in British Honduras. In Guatemala we 



have only two records of it. In one case the late Dr. Bernoulli gave us two specimens 



which he had procured near the village of Mazatenango, in the Costa Grande, where 



he was then living. Another came from the other side of the country, from Cahabon, 



where it was obtained by Mr. Champion during his entomological journey to that part 



4* 



