BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 379 



or less distinct subterminal tomial notch; maxillary tomiura, posterior 

 to the subterminal notch, nearly or quite straight to near the base, where 

 more or less convex; mandible recurved, falcate, with ver}^ acute tip and 

 very short rami, the gonys strongly convex, its base very broad and 

 much posterior to the nosti'ils. Nostrils exposed, narrow, longitudinal, 

 overhung by broad membrane. Rictal bristles rather long but weak. 

 Wing moderate, rather rounded (seventh and sixth, or seventh, sixth, 

 and fifth primaries longest, the ninth shorter than fourth, sometimes 

 shorter than first). Tail decidedly shorter than wing (sometimes 

 shorter than distance from bend of wing to tip of secondaries), more 

 or less x-ounded or slightly double-rounded. Tarsus rather long 

 (nearly one-third to more than one-third as long as wing) ; middle toe 

 with claw decidedly shorter than tarsus. 



Colwation. — Adult males (also adult females of some species) usually 

 plain bluish or blackish, the under parts sometimes parti}' rufous or 

 chestnut; if the general color bluish, the forehead and lores (some- 

 times auriculars also) black; if the general color black, the lesser wing- 

 coverts usually bluish gray or white. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to Colombia and thence through moun- 

 tains of western South America to Peru and Bolivia. (Only two 

 species north of Panama.) 



Not having seen all the species of this genus, I am not able to form 

 an opinion respecting its proper limits.^ Judging from the species 

 that have been examined, however, I am inclined to believe that 

 it will be necessary either to merge the generall}^ accepted genus 

 Dlglossopin' into Dlglossa, or else to recognize one or more addi- 

 tional genera, to include species which are intermediate in structural 

 characters or difi'er in certain respects from both types. In Diglosso- 

 pis the modifications of the bill which are so remarkable in typical 

 Diglosm are not carried nearly so far; the tip of the maxilla is but 

 faintly hooked; the general trend of the bill is more nearly on a line 

 with the longitudinal axis of the head; the exposed culmen is nearly 

 as long as the lateral length of the mandible (instead of being much 

 shorter — sometimes less than two-thirds as long), and the inferior out- 

 fine of the mandible is but slightly convex. The nasal fossffi are also 

 much more exposed, the latero-f rontal feathering encroaching much 

 more upon the nostrils in Diglomi. Some of the species referred to 

 Diglossa^ as, for example, D. permnata, are in the particulars men- 

 tioned almost exactly intermediate between typical Di-glossa and 

 Diglossopis, though there seems to be rather more of a gap between 

 these intermediate forms and Diglossopis than between the former and 

 true Diglossa. 



'The species which I have not seen are D.gloriosa, D.pectoralis, D. mystacalis, D. 

 carhonaria, and D. glauca. 



^Diglossopis Sclater, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, xvii, 1856, 467. (Type, D. 

 cserulescens Sclater. ) 



