MELANOPTILA. 27 



country to the mountains of Alta Vera Paz, and there ascends to the vicinity of Cohan, 

 where it is very common in vpinter at an altitude of from 4000 to 5000 feet above the 

 sea. In the more southern parts of Guatemala we have only once met with it, a spe- 

 cimen having been obtained on October 22nd, 1873, by an Indian hunter near Barranco 

 Hondo on the slope of the mountains between the Volcanoes of Agua and Fuego at an 

 elevation of nearly 4000 feet. Southwards of Honduras we have only two records of it — 

 one from the Blewfields river, and another &om the Panama Eailway. The last record 

 is not in Mr. Lawrence's Catalogue of Panama birds, but rests on a specimen sent from 

 Frijole Station by M'Leannaa to the Smithsonian Institution. 



In Cuba G. carolinensis is a common bird in winter i^. 



The habits of the species in the United States are fully given by Baird, Brewer, and 

 Ridgway, and also by Dr. Coues. In Guatemala, as might be expected, the bird does 

 not sing, but passes a retired life in the second-growth woods and about the edges of 

 clearings. Our specimens were all obtaiaed in the autumn and winter months, between 

 October and February. 



MELANOPTILA. 



Melanoptila, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 275. (Type Melanoptila glabrirostris, Scl.) 



A peculiar genus of ver}' restricted range, being only found as yet on the coast of the 

 Gulf of Honduras and the coral islands which line the shore. It is quite probable that 

 its range extends both northwards along the coast of Yucatan and also eastwards to 

 Cape Gracias a Dios, tracts as yet ornithologically unexplored. 



The name glabrirostris, chosen by Mr. Sclater for the single species, was suggested 

 from no rictal bristles being observed in the specimens he examined. In all of our ex- 

 amples, however, they are fairly well defined. 



1. Melanoptila glabrirostris. (Tab. III. fig. 2.) 



Melanoptila glabrirostris, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 275' ; Scl. &; Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 7' ; Moore, P. Z. S. 

 1859, p. 55' J Salv. Ibis, 1864, p. 380*; Baird, Rev. Am. B. p. 55'. 



Sericeo-pxirpurascenti-nigra, alis efc cauda magis clialybeo tinctis ; rostro et pedibus nigerrimis. Long, tota 

 7'5, alae 3'6, caudae 3'5, rostri a rictu 1"0, tarsi 1"15. (Descr. maris ex Half-moon Cay, British. Honduras. 

 Mus. nostr.) 



Eai. Bbitish Hondueas, Lighthouse and Glover's Eeefs {0. S.^), Corosal {Roe) ; Hon- 

 DTJEAS {Belattre ^), Omoa {Leyland ^ ^ ^). 



This interesting species was first described by Mr. Sclater from specimens in the 

 Derby and British Museums, obtained by the French collector Delattre somewhere in 

 Honduras, and from one in his own collection brought home by Mr. Joseph Leyland 

 from the vicinity of Omoa ^. Mr. Leyland was not able to give much information 

 respecting the bird, as only one other individual came under his notice. 



4* 



