CA8SIDIX. — AMBLTCEECUS. 445 



p. 279'; 1879, p. 510"; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 191 "; Ibis, 1885, p. 219"; Salv. & Godm, 



Ibis, 1879, p. 201"; 1880, p. 123"; Tacz. Orn. Per. ii. p. 435". 

 Cassicus ater, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. v. p. 363", 

 Cassidix ater, Pelz. Orn. Bras. p. 201 ". 



Cassidix mexicams, Less. Traite d'Orn. i. p. 433 " ; Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, p. 416 ". 

 Scaphidura crassirostris, Sw. An. in Menag. p. 301 ". 

 Cassidix crassirostris"^, Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 57°°. 



Atro-violaceus, colli plumis elongatis, expansis ; rostro et pedibus nlgris. Long, tota 13-5, ate 7-5, caudse 6-0, 



rostri a rictu 1-5, tarsi 1-8. 

 ? mari similis, sed minor et minus nitida. (Descr. maris et feminse ex Choctum, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Eah. Mexico ^, Orizaba ^ ; Guatemala, Choctum {0. S. & F. D. G.^) ; Hondueas, 

 Chilomo {Leyland^); Nicaragua, Blewfields Eiver {Wickham^); Panama, Chitra, 

 Calobre, Calovevora {ArcS'^% Lion Hill {M'Lemnan'^). — South America, 

 Colombia » to South Brazil i^ is and Paraguay ^^, Amazons valley i«, Guiana ^ ii. 



Cassin, when writing his 'Studies of Icteridse,' attempted to separate Cassidix 

 oryzivora into a number of species, using for them several of the names previously 

 proposed by older authors, and supplementing them with some of his own. Mr. Sclater 

 in his recent examination of this question confessed his inability to recognize more 

 than one species ; nor are we able to do more. Cassidix oryzivora, therefore, to us is 

 a species of very wide range, with certain trifling points of variation to be expected in 

 a bird so extensively distributed. 



This species is an inhabitant of the tropical forests wherever it is found. We know 

 little of it in Mexico, but there is a skin in the Sclater collection in the British Museum 

 said to have come from Orizaba, and it is more than probable that it is to C. oryzivora 

 that Sumichrast refers as another Quiscalus in the hot region with plumage remarkable 

 for the brilliancy of its reflections of violet and purple *. In Guatemala it is by no 

 means a common bird, as we only once met with it at Choctum, a small flock frequenting 

 the edge of the clearing in which the hamlet is situated ; they were noisy, gregarious 

 birds, but we did not observe any of their breeding-arrangements. Leyland says they 

 frequent cornfields near Omoa in great numbers^- In the more southern parts of 

 Central America it apparently becomes more common, judging from the number of skins 

 sent us, but we have no notes of its habits. In Colombia Salmon found it in several 

 places in the State of Antioquia ^ ; he sent home two of the eggs, which are quite 

 white, and thus unlike the usual type of Icterine birds. The iris in life is white. 



B. Nares qperculo cornea obtectoe. 



AMBLYCERCUS. 



Amblycercus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. i. p. 190 (1851); Sol. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xi. p. 326. 



Two rather closely allied species constitute this genus, one of which, A. holosericeus, 



* Mem. Best. Soc. N. H. i. p. 553. 



