DIGLOSSA.— DACNIS. 243 



Colombian State of Antioquia. These are of a greenish-blue ground, thickly marked 

 at the larger end with red-brown spots. The nest obtained by the same collector is 

 open and made of moss, fibres, and rootlets, and lined at the bottom with moss. 



Of the nest and eggs of D. haritula and of B. jplumbea we have as yet had no tidings. 



2. Diglossa pluml)ea. (Tab. xv. a. figg. i c? , 2 ? .) 



Diglossa plumbea, Cab. J. f. Orn. 1860, p. 411^; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 97^; v. Frantz. 

 J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 297'; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 185*; Scl. Ibis, 1875, p. 217'. 



Omnino schistacea, subtus pallidior, oapite nigricantiore, uropygio cserulesoentiore ; rostro comeo, mandibulae 

 basi pallidiore ; pedibus corylinis. Long, tota 4'4, alae 2-2, caudse 1"75, rostri a rictu 0-55, tarsi 0-7. 

 (Descr. maris ex Irazu, Costa Eica. Mus. nostr.) 



$ fusca ; subtus pallidior, alis et Cauda fusoo limbatis. (Descr. feminse ex Irazu, Costa Eica. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Costa Eica {v.Frantzius'^), Irazu 3, San Juan^ 3, Quebrada Honda ^ {v. Frantzius), 

 Irazu (Eogers), Candelaria (Zeledon ^) ; Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui (Arce *). 



This Diglossa in Costa Eica and Panama entirely takes the place of the Mexican 

 and Guatemalan D. baritula ; but like that species it is confined to the high mountain- 

 ranges and volcanoes. 



It was discovered by Dr. v. Prantzius, who sent a male specimen to the Berlin 

 Museum, which was described by Dr. Cabanis in 1860 i. The same traveller subse- 

 quently observed it in the Volcan de Irazu and near San Juan ; and Mr. Zeledon also 

 met with it at Las Cruces, in the mountain-range of La Candelaria ^. Southwards of 

 this our collector Enrique Arce obtained several examples during his excursions to 

 the southern slopes of the Volcan de Chiriqui. These differ in no way from Costa-Eica 

 examples. Southward of Chiriqui Diglossa plumbea has not yet been met with. 



DACNIS. 



Bacnis, Cuvier, Regn. Anim. i. p. 395 (1817). (Type Motacilla cyana, Linn.) 



Thirteen or fourteen species are included in this genus, which is a purely Neotropical 

 one, spread over the whole of the hotter parts of South America, and occurring in our 

 region as far north as Nicaragua. Only four species, however, are found within our 

 border, one of which, the common Dacnis cayana, has a range almost as extensive as 

 that of the genus itself; D. ultramarina is hardly separable from this, and has as yet 

 only been noticed in Central America between Nicaragua and the State of Panama. 

 The third is D. venusta, which for a long time was supposed to be peculiar to Costa 

 Eica and Panama, but has now been traced into the northern provinces of Colombia. 

 The fourth is that described below as D. viguieri, from the isthmus of Darien. The 

 southern species are chiefly concentrated in the upper portion of the valley of the 

 Amazons, and in States through which the Andes run. Two other species occur in 

 Guiana and three in South-eastern Brazil. 



Dacnis may be recognized by its sharp, slightly depressed, almost conirostral bill. 

 The nostril is at the lower portion of the membrane covering the nasal fossa; the 



31* 



