532 BIKDS OF BEITISH GUIANA. 



684. Taohyplxonus rufus. 



G-REATER WhITE-SHOULDBEED TaNAGER. 



Tanagra rufa Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 44, 1783 (Cayenne). 

 Tacliyplionus nigerrimus Cab. in Schomb. Reis. Guian. iii. p. 669, 1848. 

 TachypTionus melaleucus Salvin, Ibis, 188.5, p. 211 (Bartica Grove) ; 



Sclater, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 206, 1886. 

 Tachyphoniis rufus Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 421 no. 4333, 



1912 ; Beebe, Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana, p. 137, 1917 



(Bartica). 



Adult male. Greneral colour both on the upper and under 

 surface glossy blue-black ; flight-quills blackish brown edged with 

 white on the basal portion of the inner webs ; lesser marginal 

 upper wing-coverts, axillaries, under wing-coverts, and inner 

 edges of the quills below white ; remainder of the under surface 

 of the quills blackish brown ; lower aspect of tail black. " Bill 

 and feet black" (Oat. B. Brit, Mus.). 



Total length 179 mm.j exposed culmen 17, wing 88, tail 78, 

 tarsus 23. 



Adult female. Differs entirely from the adult male in being 

 rufous on the entire upper and under surface. The inner webs of 

 the flight-quills blackish brown with pale rufous on the inner 

 margins ; axillaries, under wing-coverts, and inner edges of quills 

 below cinnamon-rufous. Wing 80 mm. 



The male and female described were collected on the Bonasika 

 Eiver, 1911. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 

 Nest. UnrsJcorded in British Guiana. 

 Eggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in British Guiana. Ituribisi Kiver, Supenaam River, 

 Bartica, Bonasika B.iver, Demerara River, Abary River (McConnell 

 collection) ; Bartica ( Whitely) . 



Extralimital Range. Surinam (Penard), Cayenne {Jelski), 

 Trinidad, Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Eastern and 

 Southern Brazil. 



Habits. Schomburgk states (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 669) that he 

 usually met with this species singly — rarely in pairs — in the thin 

 woods near the coast, in the plantations, and in the fields cultivated 

 by the Indians. He also noticed single individuals among local 

 niigratory flocks. 



