BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 349 



usually medially grooved basaJly, the tip of mandible distinctly 

 decurved; tomial serrations variable but always distinct. Nostrils 

 opening vertically, completely exposed, roundish, widely separated 

 by the broad mesorhinium. Orbits and lores completely and exten- 

 sively naked. Wing rather short, rounded, with longest primaries 

 extending decidedly beyond secondaries; fifth and sixth or sixth 'and 

 seventh primaries longest, the eighth equal to or (usually) longer 

 than longest secondaries, the ninth shorter than first, the tenth (outer- 

 most) about half as long as ninth. Tail usually decidedly shorter 

 than wing (about as long in S. spectabilis), strongly graduated, the 

 middle pair of rectrices longest, the outer pair slightly more than half 

 to much less than half as long, the rectrices not distinctly if at all 

 narrowed terminally, rounded at tip. Tarsus equal to or longer than 

 middle toe with claw. 



Goloration. — ^Head and neck, together with chest and whole breast 

 (sometimes upper abdomen also) imiform black in males, chestnut or 

 chestnut-tawny or slate-grayish in females, relieved by a conspicuous 

 auricular tuft of yeUow or orange-yellow elongated feathers; back, 

 wiags, rump, and upper tail-coverts plain olive-green, usually sepa- 

 rated from black of hindneck by a band or coUar of yellow or orange- 

 yellow; rectrices usually tipped with cinnamon-rufous or chestnut; 

 under taU-coverts crimson; thighs chestnut; adult males with a con- 

 spicuous flank-patch of yellow or yellowish orange. 



Range. — ^Nicaragua to eastern Peru, southeastern Brazil, and 

 Cayenne. (Seven species.) 



This genus, as characterized above, may possibly require sub- 

 division. S. spedabilis (the only species occurring in Central Amer- 

 ica), type of BampTiastoides, diflfers from all the other known species 

 in its relatively longer bill and taU, absence of yellow coUar across 

 hindneck and of cinnamon-rufous tip to rectrices, and in compara- 

 tively slight difference between the sexes in coloration. However, 

 between 8. spedabilis and S. maculirostris, which represent the two 

 extremes in the group " the transition seems nearly complete (except 

 as to color characters) through S. gouldi (nearest S. TnacvMrostris), S. 

 Inngsdorffi, and S. piperivora, the last named being much more nearly 

 like S. spedabilis in size and shape of the bill than S. maculirostris. 



SELENIDERA SPECTABILIS Cassin. 



CASSIN'S ARAgAKI. 



Adult male. — ^Head and neck, all round, chest, breast, and abdo- 

 men uniform glossy black, the side of head ornamented by a con- 

 spicuous auricular patch of lemon or canary yellow elongated feathers; 

 back, scapulars, wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts plain oUve- 



" I have not seen 8. rdnwardti (Wagler) nor iS. nattereri Gould. 



