MONACHA PERUANA. 



THE PEEUYIAN WHITE-FACED NUNBIRD. 

 PLATE LI. 



Monasa peruana, Scl, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 194. 



Monasa peruana, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 262. 



Monasa peruana, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 60. 



Monasa peruana, Cassin, Pr. Acad. Sc. Phil. 1860, p. 135. 



Monasa peruana, Scl. Cat. A. B. p. 275 (1862). 



Monasa peruana. Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. iv. p. 128 (1863). 



Monasa peruana, Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 192. 



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



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



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



Monasa peruana, Tacz. P. Z, S. 1874, p. 548. 



Nigro-schistacea, in ventre vix dilutior, in pileOj facie et gutture fere nigra ; remigibus et rectricibus nigris ; 

 fronte angust^ et mento suromo albis ; subalaribus et remigum marginibus internis cinereis ; rostro 

 ruberrimo, pedibus virescenti-nigris : long, tota ll-S^, alse 5"1, caudse 5'0, rostri a rictu 1'5. Fem. 

 mari similis. 



Hab. in Amazonia superiore. 



Obs. Species a M. morpheo gula summa solum alb^ et fronte angustiore alba^ necnon crassitie paulo minore 

 diversa. 



It was not without some misgivings that I described this bird in 1855 under a MS. name given 

 to it by Bonaparte and Verreaux, and placed upon the labels of skins in the collection of 

 Vei'reaux freres, at that period the leading house in Europe for the purchase and sale of 

 specimens of natural history. It is not entirely without misgiving that I now continue to 

 accord it rank as a separate species — the characters that divide it from M. morpheus being 

 Certainly of not very great weight. Still I am unwilling to unite two forms which have long 

 stood apart, and have been generally recognized as distinct, especially when they inhabit districts 

 that are in many other cases tenanted by different representative species. 



The Peruvian White-faced Nunbird seems to be an abundant and generally distributed 

 species in Upper Amazonia, and has been obtained by most of the well-known collectors who 

 have visited that district. Hauxwell met with it at Chamicuros, on the Ucayali ; E. Bartlett at 

 the same place, as also at Sarayacu and Chyavetas, " plentiful in all these localities ;" Jelski came 

 across it further westward at Monterico in Central Peru ; and Buckley far to the north at 

 Sarayacu in Ecuador. 



I have never seen specimens of this bird in "Bogota" collections, or from any part of 



