204 FOEMICAEIlDiE. 



Thamnophilus doliatus is a bird of the hot and temperate regions, where it is found 

 rangino' from the sea-level to an altitude of 5000 or 6000 feet in the mountains. It 

 occurs as far north in Eastern Mexico as Tampico, and is abundant in the State of 

 Vera Cruz, and thence southwards to the State of Panama. It appears not to be 

 found in Western Mexico north of the State of Oaxaca, but occurs in the isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec, and abundantly on the Pacific side of the cordillera of Guatemala. 



It frequents the denser brush-wood, keeping near the ground, and uttering at intervals 

 a loud cry, which may be heard at a considerable distance. 



9. Thamnophilus nigricristatus. 



Thamnophilus doliatus, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 293 (nee Linn.) \ 



Thamnophilus radiatus, Scl. & Salv. P.Z. S. 1864, p. 355 (nee Vieill.)'; Salv. P.Z. S. 1870, 



Thamnophilus nigricristatus, Lawr. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1865, p. 107 * ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xv. 

 p. 209 \. 



T. doUato similis, sed plumis pilei omnino nigris distinguendus. 



2 quam femina T. doliati pallidior, gula albicantipre immaculata. (Descr. maris et feminae ex Panama. 

 Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Panama, Mina de Chorcha, Chitra ^, Calovevora ^, Calobre (Arce), Paraiso Station 

 (Hughes), Jjion Hill Station (M'Leannan^^^). — South America, from Colombia 

 and the Upper Amazons Valley to Matto Grosso in Brazil ^. 



Though separated in 1865 as a distinct species by Mr. Lawrence *, this bird has been 

 generally considered inseparable from T. radiatus, until Mr. Lawrence's name was 

 again restored to it by Mr. Sclater in his ' Catalogue ' ^, though he there expressed 

 great doubt as to its distinctness even from T. doliatus. Count von Berlepsch, too, 

 has further divided this form by naming the Upper Amazonian birds T. suhradiatus. 

 We are unable to distinguish between the Amazonian and Colombian birds, to which 

 the title T. nigricristatus is applicable ; but the true T. radiatus seems to be distinct, 

 the under surface of the male being much less banded and even almost white along 

 the middle of the abdomen, and the female a much whiter bird beneath than that sex 

 of the more northern bird. 



T. nigricristatus may readily be distinguished from T. doliatus in the male by the 

 feathers of the crown, which are black to their bases, and in the female by the lighter 

 coloured and unspotted chin and throat. 



The range of this bird in Central America is limited to the State of Panama, where 

 it appears to be found alone as far as the middle of the State ; in the district of Chiriqui 

 it occurs with T. doliatus, which entirely supplants it to the north. 



We are unacquainted with the nest and eggs of either this species or of T. doliatus. 

 But Salmon says that an allied bird {T. multistriatus) builds a hanging nest and layS 

 whitish eggs, which are thickly spotted and streaked at the larger end with red-brown. 



