440 ICTEEID^. 



1. Ostinops decumanus. 



Xanthomus decumanus, Pall. Spic. Zool. £asc. vi. p. 1, t. 1 ^. 



Ostinops decumanus, Salv. & Godm. Ibis, 1879, p. 200 ' ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1879, p. 508'; Scl. 



Ibis, 1883, p. 151*; Scl. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 315 '; Tacz. Orn. Per. ii. p. 404°; Salv. 



Ibis, 1885, p. 217'. 

 Cassieus citreus, Miiller, Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 87 ; Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil, 1866, p. 68 ^ 

 Oriolus cristatus, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 21 '. 

 Ostinops cristatus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 455"; Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1860, p. 138"; Lawr. Ann. 



Lye. N. Y. vii. p. 297 ''; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 190 " ; Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 191 "; Wyatt, 



Ibis, 1871, p. 328 '=. 



Mger, dorso postico, uropygio et crisso castaaeis ; cauda flava, rectrieibus duabus mediis nigricantibus ; rostro 

 eburneo, pedibus nigris. Long, tota 17, alae 8'8, caudae 7'5 (rectr. med. 7*0), rostri a rictu 2-3, tarsi 2-0. 



5 mari similis sed minor. Long, tota 13-5, alse 6-8, caudse 6-4 (rectr. med. 6-2), rostri a rictu 1-9, tarsi 1*7. 

 (Descr. maris et feminae ex Bugaba, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Panama, Bugaba {Arc6'^% Lion Hill {M'Leannan^^), Chepo {Arce^), Turbo 

 ( Wood 11). — South America, from Colombia 2 3 i5 to Bolivia and South-east Brazil ^ ; 

 Guiana '''. 



This species is best known under Gmelin's title cristatus, but there can be no doubt 

 that Pallas described and figured it under the name of Xanthomus decumanus in the 

 sixth part of his 'Spicilegia Zoologica,' published in 1769, nineteen years before 

 Gmelin's name appeared ; decumanus also antedates Boddaert's cristatus (1783) and 

 Miiller's citreus (1776). 



Ostinops decumanus was observed by Mr. C. J. Wood both at Turbo and on the 

 banks of the Atrato ^^ ; and we have received specimens from Chepo, the line of the 

 Panama Railway, and from as far north as Bugaba, in the Province of Chiriqui, so 

 that there can be no doubt that the species belongs to our fauna, occupying, as it does, 

 the whole of the State of Panama. But it does not proceed further into the isthmus, 

 its name being absent from all the Costa-Eica lists. 



Mr. Wyatt found Ostinops decumanus not uncommon in the lower mountain-districts 

 on the east side of the valley of the Magdalena in Colombia. He found them nesting 

 during the whole of his three months' stay in the country. They breed in colonies, 

 making long pendulous nests. A large colony he observed had established themselves 

 in a leafless tree, in a valley near San Nicolas, in March. Every evening, just before 

 sunset, they held a most discordant concert, flying over the valley, wheeling round, and 

 then diving down to the bottom of their bag-shaped nests, some of which were so 

 loosely woven that he could see the bird, when in, struggling to get down to the bottom. 

 The iris, he adds, is bright sky-blue 1^. 



Eggs obtained by Salmon ^ at Eemedios, on the opposite side of the valley, are 

 described as pale greenish blue, sparsely spotted with dark brown spots. 



