BIOLOGIA CENTRALI-AMERICANA. 



ZOOLOGIA. 



Class AVES. 

 Subclass AVES CARINAT^. 



Order PASSERES. 



Suborder OLIGOMYODiE. 



Pam. OXYRHAMPHID^. 



OXYEHAMPHUS. 



Oxyrhamphus, Strickland, Ann. & Mag. N. H. vi. p. 420 (1841) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. 



p. 280. 

 Oxyrhynchus, Temminck, PI. Col. livr. 21, 1823 (nee Leach). 

 Oscyruncus, Temminck, Anal, du Syst. g^n. d^Orn. in Man. d^Orn. ed. 3, i. p. Ixxx (1820). 



OwyrJiamphus is a genus of obscure affinities and its position cannot be satisfactorily 

 determined until the internal structure of one of the species has been carefully studied. 

 From an examination of its external characters it has been usually placed by recent 

 authors with the Dendrocolaptidse or as an independent Family. Under our present 

 knowledge the latter position seems the most convenient. 



The coloration of the plumage of Oxyrhamphus recalls that of Phihalura, a genus of 

 Cotingidse, but the form of the bill has no resemblance to that of Phihalura nor has its 

 plumage anything in common with any recognized member of the Dendrocolaptidae. 



The bill of O.frater (and of both the other species) is acute, the culmen slightly 

 curved, and the tomia nearly straight, with a small angle near the commissure ; the 

 nostrils are elongated open slits along the lower edge of the nasal fossa and have an 

 operculum thickened along its lower edge along the upper margin. The rictal bristles 

 are very short. The wings have ten primaries, of which the second, third, and fourth 

 are the longest, the first being a little longer than the fifth and rather more pointed. 

 The barbs of the central portion of the outer web of the outermost primary, in the 

 male, have their extremities destitute of barbules, and these bare points turned rather 



BIOL. CENTR.-AMBK., Aves, Vol. II., December 1888. 1 



