DONACOBIUS. — PLATTCICHLA. 



375 



The following note has been copied from Beebe (Our Search 

 for a Wilderness, p. 40) :— " Later, when standing at edge of 

 an impenetrable tangle of thorny vines and vainly trying to 

 discover what bird was singing in loud, ringing tones within it, 

 we thought of the fierce little owl, and concealing ourselves, gave 

 the call of Glaucidium : the effect was instantaneous ; the song 

 near us ceased, and with angry cries a pair of beautiful Black- 

 capped Mocking Thrushes {DonacoUus atricapillus) flew almost 

 overhead." 



Family TURDID^. 



This family, which is almost world-wide in its distribution, is 

 represented by nine genera in South America, and when Brabourne 

 and Chubb published their ' List of the Birds of South America ' 

 there were sixty species. Four of the genera and eleven of the 

 species are represented in British Guiana, and three others have 

 been added to the Colony since. 



Genus PLATYCICHLA Baird. 



PlatycicUa Baird, Review Amer. B. p. 32, 1864. Type P. 

 Baird. 



Pig. 145. — To illustrate the shape of the bill and nostrils. 



In this genus the bill is depressed laterally at the base,, the 

 width at the gape being about three-fourths the length of the 

 exposed cnlmen ; the nostrils are oval and feathered on the posterior 

 portion. The wing is rounded, the third, fourth, and fifth primary- 

 quills longest and equal, the second slightly shorter than the sixth, 

 and the first a;bout one-seventh the length of the second. The 

 tail is nearly square at the tip and about three-fourths the length 

 of the wing. The tarsus exceeds the length of the exposed 



