RHAMPnOCjENUS. 



Genus RHAMPHOC^NUS Vieill. 



43 



BJiampTioccenm Vieill. N. Diet. d.Hist. Nat. xxix. p. 5, 1819. Type 

 iB. melanums Vieill. 



Fio-. 21, — ShamphoccEnus melanurus. 



This genus, which is unlike any of its congeners, may be easily 

 distinguished by its long bill, short wings, and long tail. The bill 

 is long and slender and slightly hooked at the tip of the upper 

 mandible, and the exposed culmen is almost equ&,l to the tarsus in 

 length. The wing is rounded, the fourth, fifth, and sixth primary- 

 quills longest, the third about equal in length to the seventh. The 

 tail, which exceeds the length of the wing, is almost square at the 

 tip, the outer feather on each side being shorter than the rest. 

 Coloration : male and female similar. 



376. Rhampliciceenus albiventris. 



White-bellied Ant-Ween. 



MhampJioctBnus alhiventris Sclater, Ibis, 1893, p. 95 (Surinam); Salvin, 

 Ibis, 1885, p. 426 (Bartica Grove, Camacusa) ; ■ Sclater, Gat. B. 

 Brit. Mus. XV. p. 261, 1890 (Quonga) ; Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. 

 Amer. i. p. 204, no. 2045, 1912. 



Adult male. Head, back, wings, and tail rufous-brown ; inner 

 webs of primary and secondary quills darker brown ; tail black 

 fringed with russet-brown which increases in extent on the two 

 outermost feathers on each side ; there is a slight indication of a 

 superciliary streak from the lores over and behind the eye ; 

 cheeks, throat, breast, and sides of the body silvery-grey, the 

 middle of the abdomen inclining to silky-white like the under 

 wing-coverts. 



Total length 117 mm., exposed culmen 22, wing 47, tail 43, 

 tarsus 20. 



The bird from which the description is taken was collected on 

 the Ituribisi River in 1909. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. Wing 42 mm. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana, 



