MTIOBIUS.— PYEOCEPHALUS. 59 



which is the most southern part of the range of this species, Mr. Hudson says that it is 

 a summer visitor *. It is shy and solitary, and flits about the upper foliage of the trees, 

 uttering a sorrowful monotonous note. 



The nest is placed in a bush or low tree and built of various soft materials compactly 

 woven together, and the inside lined with feathers or vegetable down. The eggs are 

 four in number, of a pale cream-colour with large well-defined spots of dark red. 



5. Myiobius capitalis. (Tab. XL. fig. l.) 



Myiobius capitalis, Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 583 ' ; Nutting & Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 403 '. 

 Mitrephanes capitalis, Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 220 1 



Supra olivaceus ; capite cinereo ; loris albidis ; alis et cauda obscure fuscis, illis distincte fulvo limbatis : 

 subtus gula albida ; pectore obscure fulvo ; abdomine et subalaribus flavidis : rostro obscure corneo ; 

 pedibus corylinis. Long, tota 45, alse 2-5, caudse 2-2, tarsi 0-6, rostri a rictu 0-6. (Descr. exempl. typ. 

 ex Tucurriqui, Costa Eica. Mus. nostr.) 



Eab. Nicaragua, Los Sabalos {Nutting ^) ; Costa Rica, Tucurriqui {Arce ^). 



Until recently the single specimen sent us from Tucurriqui in Costa Eica by Arce 

 was the only one known. Mr. Nutting has since obtained a second at Los Sabalos in 

 Nicaragua, which he found in dense forest. The bird has no near allies in the genus 

 Myiobius, but its resemblance in some respects to Mitrephanes aurantiiventris suggested 

 to Mr. Eidgway that it should be placed in Mitrephanes rather than Myiobius. 



We do not concur in this view, and believe that it would be better to leave it where 

 it was originally placed. Mitrephanes as here understood contains two perfectly 

 congeneric species, distinguishable by their distinct crests and long, deeply-forked tails. 

 Neither M. capitalis nor JEmpidonax atriceps possess either of these characters. 



Though both M. capitalis and Mitrephanes aurantiiventris occur at Tucurriqui in 

 Costa Eica, it is probable that the former belongs to the lowlands and the latter to the 

 uplands, and that they meet here at the opposite extremes of their vertical range. 



PYEOCEPHALUS. 



Pyrocephalus, Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle^ iii. p. 44 (1841) (type Muscicapa rubinea, Bodd.) ; Scl. 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 211. 



In its coloration Pyrocephalus stands alone amongst the Tyrannidae, no other 

 members of the family having the brilliant red breast and head which distinguish 

 P. rubineus and its allies. 



Mr. Sclater includes four species in the genus, but P. mexicanus is hardly separable 

 from P. rubineus and the status of P. obscurus is not very satisfactory, as it is not 

 improbably only a dark form of the common P. rubineus. The fourth is the P. nanus 

 of the Galapagos Islands — a dwarf form of the mainland bird. 



The bill is moderately stout, the length of the tomia being rather more than twice 

 the width at the rictus, the sides converge gradually to the tip ; the nostrils are open 



8* 



