112 



Supra fasca^ in pileo nigricantiorj striis scapos plTimarum occupantibus fulvis omninb variegata ; loris albis ; 

 alis caudaque extus immaculatis ; subtus dorso concolor sed dilutior^ vitta lata subgutturali alba, 

 ventre medio fere albicante ; remigum pogoniis internis basin versus albis ; rostro corneOj ad basin 

 flavicante*: long, tota 6'3, alse 3"5^ caudse rectr. med. 2"4j lat. 1-7, rostri a rictu 1'2. i^em. mari similis. 



Hub. in Guiana et Amazonia. 



We now leave the typical PufF-birds of the genus Bucco, which have hitherto occupied our 

 attention, and proceed to consider the more aberrant members of the family, which constitute 

 several distinct groups. The nearest of these to Bucco appears to be the form which Gray, in 

 his second edition of his 'List of Genera' (1841), called Malacoptila, but which he afterwards 

 reunited to Monasa. It embraces, according to the results I have arrived at, seven species. 



The present species — the type of Gray's genus — was first described by Latham in 1782 as 

 the " White-breasted Barbet," and " supposed to inhabit Cayenne, as it was in a parcel of birds 

 from that place." The first scientific name, Bucco fuscus, was given to it six years later by 

 Gmelin, and rests upon Latham's description. 



In 1806 Levaillant figured the same bird, from examples received from Surinam, in his 

 " Histoire Naturelle des Barbons," comprised in the second volume of his ' Oiseaux de Paradis,' 

 as "i(9 Tamatia hrun." 



Under these designations the present bird remained known until 1827, when Wagler fell 

 into the error of regarding it as the young stage of Malacoptila torquata, from which, I need 

 hardly now say, it is totally distinct, and thus caused considerable confusion between the two 

 species. This confusion prevailed more or less for the following twenty years, until it was 

 cleared up by de Lafresnaye (Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 248) and Strickland, who published a special 

 note on the subject in ' Contributions to Ornithology' for 1852*. It appears to have been the 

 result of this confusion that in 1847 DuBus described specimens of this species from the 

 Peruvian Amazons as new, under the title of Monasa unitorqiies^ distinguishing it by this name 

 from M. torquata (called by him M. fusca), which has two breast-bands. Since Lafresnaye 

 and Strickland wrote upon the subject the perfect distinctness of M. fusca from M. torquata has 

 been universally acknowledged. 



In 1855 I proposed to separate the form of this species which occurs in collections from 

 Bogota as M. nigrifusca. I am, however, now of opinion that the difierences of the Colombian 

 form are not sufficient to establish specific individuality. 



From Cayenne, Guiana, and Surinam, where it fijst became known to the older authors, 

 M. fusca extends all over Amazonia to the Cisandean provinces of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 

 In Colombia, where some examples are remarkable for their darker colouring, it comes within 

 the grasp of the Bogota bird-hunters. In Ecuador it occurs on the Napo ; and was obtained 

 by Mr. Buckley at Sarayacu on the Bobanassa. On the Peruvian Amazons it was procured 

 by Hauxwell at Chamicuros on the Huallaga, and by Edward Bartlett at the same spot and 

 at Chyavetas. Natterer collected examples of it at Marabitanas, on the Rio Negro, and on the 



* "On the Distinctness of Monasa fusca (Gm.) from M. torqiiata (Hahn)," Contr. to Orn. 1852, p. 43. 



