NEOMOEPHUS. 633 



rare birds, though found over a large area, including the greater part of Tropical 

 America, N. geoffroyi, the oldest known, belongs to South-eastern Brazil ; N. mji- 

 pennis to Guiana ; N. pucherani to the Amazons Valley ; N. radiolosus to Eastern 

 Ecuador; whilst N. salvini, the species which belongs to our country, occurs from 

 Nicaragua to Ecuador. 



All the species of Neomorphus are of large size and of rich tints of bronze and purple 

 on the upper surface ; the head carries a long, full nuchal crest ; the wings are very 

 short, the sixth quill being the longest and hardly exceeding the secondaries in length ; 

 the tail consists of long, wide, slightly curved feathers, the outermost pair are rather 

 more than half the length of the middle pair ; the legs are long, and the tarsi bare, the 

 tibiae covered with small closely set feathers, and not full like those of Coccyzus and 

 Piaya; the bill is compressed, and the culmen drawn into a sharp curved edge; the 

 nostrils are horizontal slits along the lower edge of the nasal fossa ; the eyelashes are 

 long bristles, with some long hair-like barbs from near the base. 



The only genus at all like Neomorphus is the Bornean and Sumatran Carpococcyx, 

 to which it has a general resemblance ; but the latter genus has a wider culmen at the 

 base, the area over the nostrils less feathered, and the nostrils themselves more open. 



1. Neomorphus salvini. 



Neomorphus salvini, Scl. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 60, t. 5 ' ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 156'; Ibis, 1872, 

 p. 323'; Lawr. Ibis, 1873, p. 291'; Sheliey, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 417'. 



Supra seneo-viridis, lilacino-purpureo micans ; capite siimmo rufescente, fronte dilutiore, crista nuohali elongata 

 violaceo-viridi : subtus griseo-fusous, pectoris plumis pallide marginatis, torque pectorali nigra, ventre 

 imo et tectricibus snboaudalibus rufo-brunneis, fcibiis rufesceutibus ; alls et cauda aeneo-virescentibus, hac 

 supra rufa carta luce lavata ; rostro corneo, culmine et tomiis pallidis ; pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota 

 circa 20-0, alee 6-6, caudse rectr. med. 10-0, rectr. lat. 6-2, rostri a rictu 2'2, tarsi 2-8. (Descr. feminse, 

 exempl. typ. ex Veraguas, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



Hab. Nicaragua, (^hontales {Belt ^) ; Panama {Mus. Brit.), Santiago de Veraguas ^, 

 Cordillera de Tole {Arce^). — Colombia^; Ecuador^. 



Mr. Sclater's description and figure of this distinct species were taken from a female 

 specimen sent us in the second collection of birds made by Enrique Arce after he left 

 Panama and commenced his fruitful researches in the rich country lying to the west- 

 ward of the interoceanic railway, and extending to Chiriqui and the frontier of Costa 

 Eica. This collection was formed near Santiago de Veraguas, and reached us in 

 January 1866. A second specimen, a male, was subsequently sent us from the 

 Cordillera de Tole, and reached us in September 1866; this passed into Mr. Sclater's 

 possession, and thence with the rest of his collection to the British Museum *. 



In 1872 Salvin found a specimen in Belt's collection formed in Nicaragua, another 



* We give these particulars, as Capt, Shelley credits Mr. Sclater's collection with the type of the species, 

 which is an error. 



