THAMNOPHILUS. 197 



T. hridgesi, so far as texture goes ; the tail, too, is long ; the wings are more rounded, 

 resembling those of T. doUatus ; and the tarsi are covered like that type. ThamnopMlus 

 immaculatus is also referred to this section, but we think it best removed from Tham- 

 nopMlus altogether as we explain elsewhere. Section E is represented by T. pulchellus, 

 which just enters our limits. 



a. Majores : rostrum rohustum profande uncinatnm ; ptilosis hicolor, infra alba, 

 supra in mare nigra, in femina castanea ; alee rotimdatcB. 



1. Thamuophilus melanocrissus. 



ThamnopMlus melanurus?, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 203 (nee Gould) '; 1859, pp. 57 \ 383' j Scl. & 



Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 119*. 

 ThamnopMlus melanocrissus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 252 ' ; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xv. p. 184 " ; Salv. 



Ibis, 1866, p. 203^; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soe. N. H. i. p. 556' ; La Nat. v. p. 248' ; 



Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 837 " ; Nutting, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 405 " ; Eidgw. Pr. 



U. S. Nat. Mus. xiv. p. 471 ". 

 ThamnopMlus hollandi, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii. p. 181 (e£. Salv. Ibis, 1874, p. 310) ". 



Supra nigerrimus ; tectricum alarum apicibus macula dorsali celata et corpore subtus albis ; tibiis, subalaribus et 

 remigibus internis in pogonio interne albis ; subcaudalibus nigris ; cauda omniao nigra : rostro et pedibus 

 nigris. Long, tota 7*5, alse 3'6, caudae reotr. med. 3'0, rectr. lat. 2-4, rostri a rictu 1'2, tarsi 1'3. 



5 supra cum alis, cauda et subcaudalibus castaneis, corpore reliquo subtus albo, rostro et pedibus nigris. 

 (Descr. maris et feminse ex Playa Vicente, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Mexico, Orizaba ^ and Santecomapam ^ {Salle), Playa Vicente [Boucard ^ 

 Trujillo), hot region of Vera Cruz ^, Omealca ^ {Sumichrast), Teapa {Mrs. H. H. 

 Smith); Guatemala, Choctum, Chisec {0. S. & F. D. G.) ; Honduras, Omoa 

 {Leyland^% San Pedro [G. M. Whitely^^), San Pedro Sula {Wittkugel ^-) ; Nica- 

 EAGUA, Los Sabalos {Nutting ^^), Greytown {Holland i^). 



This species, T. transandeanus. and T. melanurus are very close allies, and can only 

 be distinguished with any certainty by the colour of the under tail-coverts. These 

 feathers in T. melanocrissus are black ; in T. transandeanus they have white tips, and 

 in T. melanurus the exposed portion is wholly white. This is the rule with the colour 

 of these feathers in these birds, but it is, as might be expected, not always easy to 

 recognize the species. Thus a specimen, apparently adult, from Teapa, has a slight 

 white edging to the under tail-coverts, and might, for this reason, be called T. trans- 

 andeanus were it not for the locality whence it came. 



The most southern place where T. melanocrissus has been found is Greytown in 

 Nicaragua, whence Mr. Holland sent specimens ^^. It is true that these were described 

 by Mr. Lawrence as T. hollandi ; but Salvin, who examined the types in 1874 ^^, con- 

 sidered them to be indistinguishable from T. melanocrissus, notwithstanding their 

 somewhat large size. Mr. Nutting obtained examples in the same country, which were 

 referred, without comment, to the northern bird by Mr. Ridgway ^^. Its range north- 

 wards from Nicaragua extends along the eastern sea-board, as far as the middle of the 



