LEPTODON. — REGERHINUS. 101 



albo stricte terminata et griseo (subtus albo) trifasciata : rosfcro nigro ; mandibula, cera efc loris 



nudis, ciuerasoentibus ; pedibus plumbeis ; iride bruniiea. Long, tota circa 21-0, alae 13-0, caudse 10-0, 



tarsi 1 '8. (Descr. feminsG ex Izalam, Yucatan. Mus. nostr.) 

 Juv. Supra fusco-niger, oapite toto et eerviee concoloribus, plumis ad basin albis : subtus plumis medialiter f usco- 



nigricantibus, subcaudalibus albis medialiter rufis. 

 Junior. Fuscus, plumis stricte fulvo limbatis, oapite summo nigro ; fronte, superciliis, cervice postica et corpore 



subtus albis. 



Hab. Mexico, Tampico {Richardson), Jalapa [de Oca), Tlacotalpam ^^, Santa Efigenia ^, 

 Cacoprieto, Tapanatepec ^^, Oaxaca [Sumichrast), Mirador {Sartorius ^i), Tonala in 

 Chiapas {Richardson), Izalam in Yucatan {Gaumer^^); British Hondueas, Orange 

 Walk {Gaumer), Cayo in the Western District {Blancaneaux) ; Guatemala 

 {Constancia i*), Escuintla(0. S. &F. B. G.) ; Honduras {Mus. Brit, i"), San Pedro 

 {Leyland *) ; Nicaragua, San Emilio, Lake of Nicaragua {Richardson) ; Costa 

 Rica {v. Frantzius^), Nicoya {E. Arce), Pozo Azul de PiiTis, Birris de Cartago ^^ 

 {Zeledon), Talamanca {Gabb^^) ; Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui, Bugaba ^ {E. Arce), 

 Lion Hill {M'Leannan ^). — South America, tropical parts generally ^^. 



Leptodon cayennensis is well known throughout Central and Tropical South 

 America, but is nowhere common. The species occurs in various parts of Mexico, where 

 Sumichrast ^^ considers it to be resident, as he obtained a female, in May 1871, whose 

 ovary contained eggs nearly ready for extrusion ; he states that the bird inhabits forests, 

 selecting trees of the thickest foliage and feeding chiefly on molluscs ; it frequents also 

 the neighbourhood of seas and rivers. From its habit of searching the ground for 

 gastropods, the bill, feet, and plumage are often much soiled. 



Specimens from every Central- American State from Mexico to Panama, Salvador 

 excepted, are in our collection. 



REGERHINUS. 



Regerhinus, Kaup, Mus. Senckenb. iii. p. 262 (1845) ; Ridgway^ Bull. U. S. Geol. & Geogr. Surv. 



ii. p. 156. 

 Leptodon, pt., Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 329. 



This genus diff"ers from the preceding one in having the cutting-edge of the upper 

 mandible without indentations. Other characters pointed out by Mr. Ridgway are 

 the differently shaped bill, the weak feet, and the more compressed toes and claws. 

 The plumage is soft as in the allied genera of Kites ; the feathers of the lower surface 

 of the body are very broad, with nearly truncate tips. The stages of plumage passed 

 through by members of this genus are difficult to account for, but after careful study we 

 are inclined to believe, with Dr. Sharpe, that they are produced by a gradual alteration 

 in the pattern of the feathers effected without moulting. In this and the allied forms 

 melanistic examples of young and old birds are frequently met with. 



Three species of Begerhinus are recognized, all of them peculiar to the Neotropical 

 Region. B. uncinatus has a very wide range in Southern and Central America, 



