132 



kindly informs me that he did not himself shoot this bird, but that his specimens were brought 

 to him in the flesh killed by the blow-pipe by the Indians of Sarayacu. The bird is found in 

 the shady nooks of the forests in pairs, sitting on the small dried branches near the ground. 

 Its food is moths and other insects. It is very tame ; and it is easy to approach them even 

 within a few yards distance. 



M. Deville placed the present bird in the genus Bucco ; and in my ' Synopsis ' I did not 

 suggest any alteration, although fully aware that it was an aberrant species. I had some 

 thoughts, however, of removing it into the adjoining genus Malacoptila; here would be perhaps 

 a more appropriate situation for this singular species; but I have convinced myself, after a 

 mature examination, that it would be not quite a natural one. On the whole, as I have stated 

 at a recent meeting of the Zoological Society, it seems necessary to give it an independent 

 status as the type of a new genus to be placed between Malacoptila and Nonnula, differing from 

 the former by its short tail, and from the latter by its shorter and stronger bill. In general 

 style of colour MicromonacJia lanceolata, as I propose to call it, is also conspicuously different 

 from all other members of the family. 



The following is a list of the specimens of this species in my own collection and that of 

 Messrs. Salvin and Godman : — 



ffo. 



Sex. 



Mus. 



Patria. 



Long, tota, 



alsB, 



caudae, 



rostri 



1. 



— 



P. L. S. 



Sarayacu, Ecuador {Buckley) . 



4-9 



2-5 



1-8 



1-0 



2. 



— 



P. L. S. 



Sarayacu, Ecuador {Buckley) . 



4-7 



2-5 



1-7 



10 



3. 



— 



S.-G. 



Sarayacu, Ecuador {Buckley) . 



4-9 



2-5 



1-7 



10 



4. 



— 



S.-G. 



Sarayacu, Ecuador {Buckley) . 



4-8 



2-5 



1-7 



1-0 



These four examples are very nearly similar. The figure (Plate XLIV.) is taken from No. 1. 



