HTLOMANES. 471 



HYLOMANES. 



Hylomanes, Lichtenstein, Abh. Ak. Wissensch. Berl. 1838, p, 4i9 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 

 xvii. p. 332. 



Hylomanes was defined by Lichtenstein to contain the singular bird known as 

 ff. momotula, the smallest of the Momotidse, and on that account suggestive of a closer 

 relationship with the diminutive Todidae of the Greater Antilles than shown by any of 

 the larger members of the family. 



With a bill similar to that of Aspatha, the antrorse loral feathers are still shorter 

 and their points less distinctly visible. The ear-coverts as usual are black, but there is 

 no black pectoral spot. The tarsi are long, bearing the same proportion to the wing as 

 those of Aspatha. The tail has ten feathers, the middle pair hardly exceeding the next 

 pair in length. The tail is thus comparatively short. 



The genus has only one species, a bird of the hot lowland forests of South Mexico 

 and Guatemala. 



1. Hylomanes momotula. 



Hylomanes momotula, Licht. Abh. Ak. Wissensch. Berl. 1838, p. 449, t. 4 ' ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, 

 pp. 201', 256'; 1859, p. 387*; Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 54'; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1860, 

 p. 400'; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 239''; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 332'. 



Momotus momotula, Gray & Mitch. Gen. Birds, i. p. 68, t. 24 '. 



Supra viridis, capite STimmo et nucha castaneis, illo fuscescentiore, stria superciliari caerulea, loris albicantibus, 

 stria postoculari (tectricibus auricularibus inelusis) nigra, infra albido marginata : subtus olivaceus, gula 

 media et abdomine medio albicantibus, abdomine antico ceeruleo lavato ; alis et eauda fuscescenti-viridibus ; 

 rostro corneo, mandibulse basi et pedibus flavidis. Long, tota circa 6'5, alae 2-8, cauda3 rectr. med. 2-6, 

 rectr. lat. l-l, rostri a rictu 1*2, tarsi 0-7. (Descr. maris ex Choctum, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



5 mari similis. 



ffab. Mexico, Valle Eeal {Mus. Berol.% Jalapa {Salle ^), Uvero {Sumichrast'^), Playa 

 Vicente {Boucard\ M. Trujillo) ; British Honduras, Cayo in the western district 

 {Blancaneaux) ; Guatemala, Choctum ^, Cubilguitz, Khamkal, Volcan de Agua 

 above San Diego, La Trinidad on the slope of the Volcan de Fuego, Savana 

 Grande {0. S. & F. B. G.). 



Hylomanes momotula is a bird of the lowland forests of South-eastern Mexico and of 

 Guatemala, occurring also in British Honduras. It has not been recorded from Western 

 Mexico or Tehuantepec, but is found in the forests of Guatemala, on both sides of the 

 main mountain chain, from the sea-level to a height of about 3000 feet. Its habits 

 resemble those of the rest of the family, of which it is the smallest member, and the 

 least conspicuous from the dense nature of the forests in which it lives. Of its nesting- 

 habits nothing has as yet been recorded. 



