EHAMPHOCCELUS. 283 



orange-trees, &c. He adds that the nests vary much in appearance, some being plain, 

 clumsy structures, others being prettUy ornamented with leaves and lichens. The 

 eggs are similar to those of R. flammigerus, but smaller, pale greenish-blue, sparsely 

 spotted with large dark brown spots and blotches ^. Wood found it abundant on the 

 Eio Truando, always frequenting a particular kind of tree which grew along the banks 

 of the streams, on the fruit of which it fed ^. 



3. Rhamphocoelus dlmidlatus. 



Ramphocehs dimidiatus, Lafr. Mag. Zool. 1837, cl. ii. t. 81'; Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, pp. 129', 142'; 

 1858, p. 73'; Cassin, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1860, p. 141 ' ; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 331 "; viii. 

 p. 175 ' J Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 350 ' ; 1868, p. 627 ' ; 1879, p. 501 "• ; Salv. P. Z. S. 

 1867, p. 138"; 1870, p. 187"; Cat. Strickl. CoU. p. 191"; Wyatt, Ibis, 1871, p. 326". 



Capite, dorso anfcico, teotrieibuB alarum minoribus et gutture obscure coccineis, plumis ad basin nigricantibus ; 



dorso postico, pecfcore et hypochondriis coccineis, pennis medialiter albis ; abdomine medio, tibiis, alis et 



Cauda nigricantibus ; rostro plumbeo ; pedibus nigricanti-plumbeis. Long, tota 6-5, alse 3'1, caudae 3-1, 



rostri a rictu 0-75, tarsi 0*9. 

 5 mari similis, sed multo obscurior, capite toto et gula fuscescentioribus, abdomine toto sordide coecineo. (Descr. 



maris et feminse ex Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



Hab. Nicaragua ? {Delattre ^) ; Panama, Chiriqui [Bridges ^j, David (Hicks ''), Mina de 

 Chorcba 12, Castillo 12, Chitra 12, Cordillera del Chucu 12, Calovevora 12, Santa Fe " 

 (ArcS), Lion Hill (M^Leannan ^ ^), Paraiso Station (Hughes), Panama (A. H. 

 Marhham), Turbo ( Wood ^). — Colombia 1 2 10 u . Ecuador % * ; Venezuela ^. 



The range of this species is a little more extensive in Central America than that 

 of Rhamphoccelus icferonotus, as it is found abundantly at Chiriqui, where B. passennii 

 occurs in place of B. icteronotus. It has been recorded from Nicaragua 2 on Delattre's 

 authority, but this statement has not been confirmed by subsequent travellers; still 

 less that of Lafresnaye that the bird occurs in Mexico ! ^ As it is absent from Costa 

 Eica, it seems probable that it has no such further extension of its range. 



In South America it is confined to the north-western part of the continent, 

 occurring near Santa Marta and Cartagena ^ and also in the State of Antioquia as 

 well as in Western Venezuela. Two specimens in the Strickland Collection at Cam- 

 bridge are of the usual make-up of the trade skins of Bogota i^ but we have not 

 seen others from this source. It has been recorded from the valley of the Napo 

 in Ecuador, as a female specimen is thus named in Mr. Sclater's list of the birds of 

 that region published in 1858 4. We have of late years received very extensive 

 collections from Eastern Ecuador, but in none have we found specimens of B. dimi- 

 diatus ; so that we think it possible that the bird so named may have been a female 

 example of B. luciani, which occurs in Peru, as will be seen below. 



Salmon obtained the nest of B. dimidiatus in Antioquia, which he says is placed in 

 low bushes, and is composed of small twigs, dead leaves, moss, and lichens. The eggs 



36* 



