MONACHA FLAYIEOSTEIS. 



THE YELLOW-BILLED NUNBIED. 

 PLATE XLIX. 



Monasajlavirostris, StrickL Contr. Orn. 1850, p. 47, t. 48. 



Monasa axillaris, Lafr. Eev. de Zool. 1850, p. 216. 



Monasa flavirostris, Sd. Ann. N. H. ser. 2, xiii. p. 481 (1854). 



Monasa flavirostris, ScL Syn. Bucc. p. 21 (1854). 



Monasa flavirostris, Scl. P. Z. S. 1855, pp. 136, 196. 



Monasa axillaris, Cassin, Pr. Acad. Phil, 1860, p. 135. 



Monasa flavirostris, Scl. Cat. A. B. p. 274 (1862). 



Monasa flavirostris. Cab. et Heine, Mus. Hein. iv. p. 127 (1863). 



Monasa flavirostris, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 752. 



Monasa flavirostris, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 295. 



Monasa flavirostris, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 106 (1873). 



Saturate nigra unicolor, alls caudaque seneo tinctis; campterio et subalaribus albis; remigum marginibus 

 internis dilute eineraceis; rostro flavo; pedibus nigris : long, tota 7'9, alse 4*2, caudse 4"0, rostri 1"1. 

 Fern, mari similis. 



Hab. in Columbia interiore et in Amazonia superiore. 



The smaller dimensions and yellow bill of the present species at once distinguish it from all its 

 fellows, and render it easily recognizable. In structure, however, it does not deviate from the 

 typical form of Monacha. 



The Yellow-billed Nunbird first became known to science in 1850, from specimens received 

 from Upper Amazonia. These were described about the same time by Strickland in this 

 country and by Lafresnaye in France, under different names. But the appropriate term flavi- 

 rostris, assigned to it by the former author, appears to have had a slight priority, and has been 

 generally adopted for this species. 



The only exact localities I am acquainted with for this Nunbird in Upper Amazonia are 

 Chyavitas, a small town situated on one of the lower spurs of the Andes west of the Huallaga, 

 where Mr. Edward Bartlett obtained examples in 1867, and Sarayacu, in Ecuador, where 

 Mr. Clarence Buckley collected specimens in 1879. 



But it is evident that Monacha flavirostris extends on further northward than Western 

 Ecuador, as it comes within the grasp of the Bogota' bird-hunters. It may be presumed, 

 however, that it does not cross the great range into the valleys draining the further slope, but 

 Scl. Jac. & Pufi"b. No. HX.— November, 1881. x 



