212 /FOEMICAEIIT)^. 



P. Z. S. 1878, p. 61 ° ; Tacz. Orn. Per, ii. p. 45 ' ; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Rica,. 1887, 



p. 115''; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xv. p. 240'. 

 Myrmotherula, sp. ?, Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 145 ". . ' 



Myrmotherula modesta, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 108 ". 

 Formicivora schisticolor, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii. p. 173 "; ix. p. 108". 

 Myrmotherula nigrorufa, Boucard, Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 1878, p. 38 (cf. Ibis, i879ji p. 215 "). 



Supra saturate cinerea unieolor ; alls nigricantibus extrorsum cinereo limbatis, teotricibus nigris albq terminatis : 

 subtus gutture toto et pectore medio nigri8„corpore reliquo cinereo ; sjibalaribus cinereis, remigibus interne 

 albis: rostro et pedibus nigris. Long, tota 4*0, alse 2'3, caudae 1.'65, rostri a rictu 0-52, tarsi 0'6. 



5 supra fusco-olivacea, pileo, alis et Cauda paulo rufescentioribus ; capitis lateribus et corpore toto subtus fulvis, 

 hypocliondriis fusoescentibus, gula pallidiore, remigibus intetoe pallide cervinis. (Bescr. maris et feminae 

 ex Chiriqui, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Guatemala, Choctura, Vera Paz {0. S. & F. D. G.^); Nicaragua, Matagalpa 

 ( W. B. Richardson) ; Costa Eica, Grecia ^^, Turrialba ^^ and Barranca ^^ (Carmtol), 

 Naranjo {Boucard ^), Pozo Azul de Pirris [Zeledon'^) ; Panama, Chiriqui ^, Bugaba ^ 

 Santiago ^, Calovevora ^, Santa Fe ^ (Arce). — South America from Colombia and 

 Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia ^. 



It has long been the practice to associate d'Orbigny's Myrmothera menetriesi ^ with 

 this widely spread species, though no specimens have been included in recent collections 

 from Bolivia, the origin of the types. The range of the bird seems to be practically 

 unbroken from Eastern Guatemala southwards through Central America, Colombia, 

 Ecuador, and Peru to the confines of Bolivia, so that d'Orbigny's bird may well be the 

 same as that so well known to us. Should, however, it prove different we still have 

 plenty of names for the northern bird, for Mr. Lawrence described the male as FormU 

 civora schisticolor i^, and, the female as Myrmotherula modesta ^o, both Costa Rica birds. 

 A young male from Guatemala has also been named M. nigrorufa by M. Boucard ^K 



In Guatemala M. mSnStriSsi is not a common bird, and is restricted in its range to 

 the forest country of Vera Paz lying to the northward of the town of Coban. We were 

 long in doubt what this bird could be, for our collectors only sent us female examples ; 

 on the receipt of an adult male from the same district the question of its identity was 

 decided. In Costa Eica and the adjoining portion of the State of Panama this Myrmo- 

 therula is common, but it appears to be absent from the line of the Panama Eailway, as 

 it was unrepresented in M'Leannan's collections ; Salmon, too, did not meet with it. 

 In Western Ecuador both Eraser and Stolzmann met with it, the latter collector at 

 Chimbo ^. The specimens obtained by him were noticed by Count von Berlepsch to 

 diflFer slightly in dimensions and colour from Panama examples. So far as the specimens 

 before us indicate, the grounds for separation are hardly tangible. 



Little has been recorded of the habits of this species. Eraser states that its food 

 consists of insects ; and Stolzmann, who found it rather common at Huambo in Peru, 

 says that it travels in small flocks near the ground, where it appears to seek the places 

 in the forest free from bushes and ^mall trees, and where the 'ground is scantily covered 

 with grass ^. 



