176 DENDROCOLAPTID^. 



neighbourhood of Bahia either in size or colour. The Amazons bird is perhaps a little 

 more tawny on the throat and slightly more rufescent on the back, but the difference 

 is trivial. This bird is the G. castelnaudi of Des Murs. 



In its distribution G. cuneatus is found in Mexico and Central America almost 

 exclusively in the low-lying forests of the eastern side of the Cordillera at least as far 

 south as Nicaragua, where it also occurs in the forests bordering the Pacific Ocean. 

 In South America it spreads over most of the tropical portion of that continent as far 

 as the forests of Eastern Brazil, and occurs throughout the great valley of the 

 Amazons. 



In habits it is strictly a bird of the dense forest, and climbs trees like a Woodpecker. 



Subfam. BENDBOCOLAPTINJE*. 



We have some hesitation in placing Sittosomus with the Dendrocolaptinse, as the 

 bill is so much more feeble than in the other genera of the subfamily. Moreover, the 

 nostrils are not quite so distinctly open, the upper edge being slightly membranous. 

 The hallux is short, as in Glyphorhynchus and the Dendrocolaptinse generally, and the 

 tail distinctly spinous. Whenever the arrangement of the whole of the Dendrocolaptidae 

 is undertaken again, the position of Sittosomus will have to be reconsidered. In the 

 meantime we retain the genus in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinse, but separate it from 

 the other genera under the following characters : — 



A. Bostrum debile ; nares apertce sed supra rmmbrano marginatoe. 



SITTOSOMUS. 



Sittasomus, Swainson, Zool. Joum. iii. p. 355 (1837) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xv. p. 118. 



Two species constitute this genus, whereof one {S. erithacus) is restricted in its range 

 to Eastern Brazil and thence southwards to the Argentine Republic. The other 

 {S. olivaceus) also occurs in Brazil, but spreads northwards to the Mexican State of 

 Vera Cruz. The leading characters of the genus have been already given under the 

 subfamily. Mr. Sclater groups Sittosomus with Margarornis, distinguishing them by 

 the greater stiffness of the rectrices of the former. The shortness of the hallux of 

 Sittosomus, compared with that of Margarornis, alone seems to us to indicate the 

 radical distinctness of the two genera. 



1. Sittosomus olivaceus. 



Sittasomus olivaceus, Wied, Beitr. iii. p. 1146 ' ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1869, p. 353 ' ; Salv. P. Z. S. 



1870, p. 192'; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 247 ^ Nutt. Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 385*; 



Boucard, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 450°; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 156'. 

 Sittosomus olivaceus, Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xv. p. 119 ^ 



* Antea, p. 146. 



