3Y4 BULLETIN 50, TTNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Megacephalug o (not of Fitzinger, 1843) Bertoni, Aves Nuevas del Paraguay, 



1901, 39. (Type, M. hitorquatus Bertoni =Bucco swainsoni Gray.) 

 Tamatia (not of Cuvier, 1817, nor Spix, 1824) Bonapaete, Ateneo Italiano, ii, 



1854, 128 (Consp. Vol. Zygod., 1854, 13).— Lesson, Traits d'Orn., 1831, 166. 



(Type, T. melanoleucua 'LeaaoD.=Bucco tectus Boddaert.) 

 Nothmeus 6 Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iv, heft 1, Jan. 15, 1863, 146. 



(Type, Bucco tectus Boddaert.) 



Large to small Bucconidse (length about 140-250 inm.) with bill 

 stout and thick (its width at nostrils greater than its depth at same 

 point), tarsus shorter than outer toe without claw, the upper parts 

 mostly plain blackish, usually with a white band across hindneck. 



Bill very strong but variable in relative size, with tip of maxilla 

 abruptly decurved, the tip of the more or less conspicuous unguis 

 more or less distinctly bifid or cleft medially; depth of bill at nostrils 

 nearly to quite equal to its width at same point; exposed cuhnen 

 much longer than combined length of tarsus and first phalanx of 

 middle toe, sometimes exceeding combined length of tarsus and entire 

 middle toe without claw, nearly straight for more than basal half, 

 then strongly decurved (the tip of maxLQa more or less strongly 

 uncinate), rounded or indistinctly ridged; gonys one and a half times 

 as long as mandibular rami, or more, distinctly though not strongly 

 convex, ascending terminally, very broad and rounded basaUy, nar- 

 rowly rounded or indistinctly ridged terminally; maxillary tomium 

 sometimes nearly straight, sometimes distinctly sinuated, never 

 notched subterminally. Nostril very small, roundish, opening 

 postero-laterally, in anterior end of the very broad but short nasal 

 fossa, concealed by the antrorse prefrontal plumes, the latter only 

 moderately large (reaching not more than halfway to tip of maxilla) 

 but extremely stiBf. Rictal bristles strongly developed, extremely 

 stiff; antrorse bristles of malar apex much smaller and weaker; 

 feathers of chin with long, slender, recurved bristly tips. Wing mod- 

 erate or rather short, strongly roimded, the longest primaries exceed- 

 ing distal secondaries usually by more than length of middle toe with 

 claw; fifth to eighth, sixth and seventh, or sixth to eighth primaries 

 longest, the ninth equal to or longer than fourth, the tenth (outer- 

 most) slightly less to slightly more than half as long as the longest. 

 Tail a little more than three-fourths to more than four-fifths as long 

 as wing, more or less strongly roimded, the rectrices rather narrow, 

 with rounded tip. Tarsus shorter than outer anterior toe without 

 claw. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage compact but soft, mostly 

 blended; orbital region completely feathered or (sometimes) with a 

 bare space immediately before and behind eye. Upper parts mostly 

 plain blackish, usually with a white collar across hindneck, often with 



1 M^ac, large; as^aUj, head. (Bertoni.) 



6 "Diminutiv-Porm von vaiS^pdc (trage)." (Cabanis and Heine.) 



