PHYTOTOMA BLOXAMI, (nobis). 

 Bloxam's Plant-cutter. 



PLATE IV. 



P. supra cinerascens, fusco-lineata ; fronte, vertice, corporeque subtus rufescentibus ; 

 alis rectricibusque fusco-nigris, huraeris pteromatumque marginibus albis. 



X he total length of the individual before us is seven inches and a half; that 

 of the bill, from the apex to the extremity of the rictus, rather more than five- 

 eighths of an inch. The upper part of the bill is bluish-black, the sides of 

 the upper mandible and the whole of the lower paler. A deep sulcation di- 

 vides the margin of each mandible into two distinct tomiae or ridges, both 

 of which in the upper are strongly serrated : in the lower, the interior ridge 

 only is serrated, the exterior being perfectly entire. We believe this to be 

 the only instance hitherto known of this singular conformation of the bill. 

 The crown of the head is of a deep orange-red colour ; the throat, breast, 

 belly, vent, and three-fourths of the tail beneath, are of the same colour, but 

 considerably lighter : the sides and under wing-coverts are brownish-black ; 

 the quill feathers underneath paler. The feathers of the cheeks, nape, back, 

 wing-coverts, scapulars, and uropygium, are dark oil-green, longitudinally 

 streaked in the centre with brownish-black : on the feathers of the uropy- 

 gium, the oil-green colour predominates ; the tips of the tail-coverts, and 

 the secondary quill-feathers are whitish ; a broad and conspicuous white band 

 extends across the shoulders, and a narrower one is formed below it, by seve- 

 ral of the feathers of the primary wing-coverts being tipped with white ; a 

 slight streak of the same colour, on the exterior web of the greater quill- 

 feathers (except the first and second) forms a third, broader, oblique band 

 across their middle. The spurious wing-feathers are of the same colour as 

 the quills. The two middle tail-feathers are brownish-black, all the rest are 

 brownish-black with the inner webs ferruginous from the base, for nearly 

 two-thirds of their length ; the outer or first feather is margined externally, 

 and at the tip, with the same colour. The legs, feet, and claws, are black. 



Our specimen was shot at Valparaiso, and brought home by Lord Byron 

 in H. M. ship Blonde, and was presented to the British Museum by the 

 Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 



(4.) b 2 



