2 OXTEHAMPHID^. 



abruptly backwards and slightly inwards, the margin of the wing thus forming a 

 strongly serrate edge. In the female the outer web of this feather is normal *. 



The tail is of moderate length and nearly square at its tip. The tarsi are short but 

 stout and enclosed in scutes which cover the front and sides and nearly meet at the 

 back ; the toes are short and nearly equal in length, the middle toe slightly exceeding 

 the outer one, the innermost being the shortest. The hind toe and claw are strong. 



The genus is a purely Neotropical one containing three closely allied species — one, 

 O.flammiceps, the oldest and best known, inhabiting South-east Brazil, another, 0. Jiypo- 

 glaucus, the Guianan Highlands, and the third, O.f rater, Costa Eica and the State of 

 Panama. 



1. Oxyrhamphus frater. 



Oxyrhynchus fiammiceps, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 106 ^ ; v. Frantz. J. f. Om. 1869, p. 304^. 

 Oxyrhamphus frater, Scl. & Salr. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 326'; Ex. Orn. p. 131, t. QQ"^ ; Salv. Ibis, 

 1869, p. 314 ' ; P. Z. S. 1870, p. 194= ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 280''. 



Viridis, pileo medio sericeo-cocoineo utrinque nigro limbato ; capitis lateribus griseis, corpore subtus paUide 

 flavo, ambobus nigro gattulatis ; alis et cauda nigris viridi limbatis, secundariorum et tectricum marginibus 

 externis late et caudse apice anguste pallide flavis, subalaribus flavis : rostro comeo, pedibus plumbeis. 

 Long, tota 6'5, alae 3'6, caudae 2*2, rostri a rictu O'B, tarsi 0"75. (Descr. maris ex Calovevora, Panama. 

 Mus. nostr.) 



■5 mari omnino similis, remige alarum primo extrorsum baud serrate. 



Hah. Costa Eica (Carmiol), San Jose \ Orosi^ (v. Frantzius) ; Panama, Calovevora ^ ^ ^, 

 Chitra 6, Castillo 7 (Jrc^). 



So far as Oxyrhamphus frater is concerned little information has come to hand since 

 "the account of it was published in ' Exotic Ornithology ' in 1868 *- Even now nothing 

 has been recorded of its habits, food, or of the kind of forests it frequents. At the 

 time that account was written the only other species known of the genus was 0. fiammi- 

 ceps of South-eastern Brazil ; but a few years ago a third species was discovered by 

 Mr. H. Whitely in the mountains of British Guiana, which we described under the 

 name of 0. hypoglaucus. This last-named bird differs from both its allies by having 

 the under surface of the body white (not pale yellow) spotted with black. We thus 

 have three very closely allied species of this genus each occupying mountainous 

 districts situated very widely apart, and it singularly happens that no one of them occurs 

 in any portion of the Andes or in the mountains of Venezuela. In our country 0. frater 

 is restricted to a very limited area extending along the mountain-slopes from Orosi in 

 Costa Eica to Calovevora in the State of Panama. We have no information as to the 

 elevations at which 0. frater is found, but the allied 0. hypoglaucus affects the moun- 

 tains of Merume and Eoraima between 2000 and 3500 feet above the sea-level. 



* Attention was drawn to this character in the article on 0. frater in ' Exotic Ornithology,' but it was 

 noticed by Mikan, who, in his ' Delectus Florae et PaunsB BrasiLiensis,' figured the first primary of 0. serratus 

 Mikan (^^0. fiammiceps, Temm.). 



