MIMUS.— EHODINOCICHLA. 37 



over the whole of Guatemala and Honduras as far as Comayagua^. We have no 

 authentic record of its occurrence elsewhere in Central America ; but in South America 

 it reappears in the neighbourhood of Santa Marta, in Antioquia, and the vicinity of 

 Bogota, and spreaeis eastwards through Venezuela to Guiana and some of the Lesser 

 Antilles. The record of its occurrence in Costa Eica, Dr. v. Frantzius tells us ^^, was 

 founded on an error, the bird sent home by Dr. Hoffmann ^ having come as a cage-bird 

 from Guatemala. 



In Guatemala Mimus gilvus has the same great range in altitude attributed to 

 M. polyglottus in Mexico. We found it at the sea-level near Belize and on the Cays of 

 the adjoining coral-reefs, and also at Duenas, 5000 feet above the sea. It is, however, 

 most abundant in the Upper Motagua valley and throughout the plain of Salama, 

 where its song may always be heard throughout the breeding-season. Mr. Owen^ took 

 several of its nests near San Geronimo, most of which were placed in the cactus-plants 

 grown for the cochineal-insects. Others were in hedge-rows or bushes on the plain, but 

 all in rather exposed situations. The usual complement of eggs was three, which were 

 of a pale greenish-grey, blotched with spots of red-brown and two shades of faint lilac. 

 They measure 1-05 in. x -7. One of them is figured in ' The Ibis ' for 1861 (t. 2. f. 2). 



At Duenas we saw very little of Mimus gilvus during our early visits to Guatemala i*' ; 

 but we obtained a young bird, which still retained spots on the under surface, which 

 must have been reared in the neighbourhood. In 1873 its numbers appeared to have 

 greatly increased, and birds were frequently seen in plains covered with scattered trees 

 of Ifomcea nmrocoides. When disturbed a bird seldom flies far, but seeks shelter in 

 the nearest bush. Its song is very varied and rich, and the bird is much sought after 

 by the natives as a favourite cage-bird. 



Note. — Another species of Mimus (M. nigriloris) has been doubtfully attributed to 

 Mexico by its describer, Mr. Lawrence *, upon the authority of Dr. Van Patten and 

 Mr. Gruber, of San Francisco. As the bird appears to belong to the section of the 

 genus containing M. longicaudatus and M. thenca, species of Western Peru and Chili, 

 a more southern origin than Mexico is probably its true one. Anyhow, better evidence 

 is required as to its habitat before including the bird in the fauna of Mexico. 



EHODINOCICHLA. 



Rhodinocichla, Hartlaub, Journ. f. Orn. 1853, p. 33. (Type Furnarius roseus, Less.) 



This singular genus was long placed in the Dendrocolaptidse, near the Oven-birds 

 [Furnarius), to which genus it was actually assigned by its original describer. Prof. 

 Baird seems to have been the first to recognize that Dr. Hartlaub was not far wrong as 

 to its generic afiinities when he described the female as a species of Turdus. It is, 



* Ann. Lye. N. T. x. p. 137. 



