PICOLAPTES. 185 



these, P. leucogaster is peculiar to the uplands of Mexico, P. gracilis to Costa Eica. 

 Of the other two, P. affinis and P. compressns range nearly over the whole area — the 

 former in the highlands, the latter in the lowlands of the same countries. 



1. Picolaptes leucogaster. 



Xiphorhynchus leucogaster, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 440 '. 



Picolaptes leucogaster, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1850, p. 150'; Scl. P.Z. S. 1858, p. 297'; Cat. Birds Brit. 



Mus. XV. p. 147 ' ; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 248 \ 

 Thripobrotus leucogaster, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 37 ". 

 Picolaptes atripes, Eyton, Contr. Orn. 1851, p. 76 '; 1852, p. 22 '. 



Supra olivaceo-brunneus, capite summo nigro, plumis macula discaH pallide cervina, cervice postica quoque 

 striis cervinis nigro utrinque limbatis notata ; dorso postico, alia extus efc cauda rubiginosis, tectricibus 

 alarum dorso concoloribus : subtus gula alba, plumis corporis reliquis macula magna elongata discali 

 albida utrinque nigro limbata ornatis, tectricibus subcaudalibus medialiter striatis, subalaribus fulvis 

 remigibus cinnamomeis fusco terminatis : rostro corneo, pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota 9'0, alse 4-8, 

 caudffl 3'9, rostri a rictu 1-55, tarsi 0"8. (Descr. maris ex Eio Frio Ixtaccihuatl, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 

 5 mEiri similis. 



Hab. Mexico, Nuri in Sonora [W. Lloyd), Ciudad in Durango {A. Forrer^), Sierra de 

 San Luis Potosi, Sierra de Bolaiios, Sierra de Nayarit, Sierra Nevada de Colima, 

 Tenango del Valle, Eio Frio Ixtaccihuatl in Puebla {W. B. Bichardson), Temas- 

 caltepec {Bullock ^), San Salvador el Verde in Puebla (F. Ferrari-Perez), Alpine 

 region of Orizaba (Sumichrast ^), La Parada [Boucard ^), Omilteme and Amula in 

 Guerrero [Mrs. H. H. Smith). 



P. leucogaster was described by Swainson from a specimen procured by Bullock at 

 Temascaltepec in the highlands of Mexico ^. Its range has now been ascertained to 

 extend over a wide area, from the State of Sonora in the north-west to that of Guerrero 

 and Oaxaca in the south. Specimens from different parts of this extensive tract of 

 country do not vary to any appreciable extent ; the northern birds are perhaps a shade 

 paler, but that is all. 



The species is easily recognized amongst its allies by the size and white colour of the 

 spots of its plumage, which have no fawn-colour or buff tint as is the case in P. affinis 

 and P. compressm. 



2. Picolaptes affinis. 



Dendrocolaptes affinis, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 100 \ 



Picolaptes affinis, Lafr. Rev. Zool. 1850, p. 275 =; Eyton, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 22 '; Scl. P. Z. S. 



1856, p. 289 *; 1859, pp. 365 \ 381 ' ; 1864, p. 175 "; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xv. p. 149' ; 



Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1860, p. 35 '; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 107'°; Sumichrast, Mem. 



Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 555 (partim) " ; La Nat. v. p. 248 " ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 193 " ; 



Sanchez, Ann. Mus. Nac. Mex. i. p. 97 (partim?)"; Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. v. 



p. 497 " ; Ferrai-i-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 156 ". 

 Thripobrotus affinis, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 38 ". 

 BIOL. CENTK.-AMEE., Aves, Vol. II., September 1891. 24 



