OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENUS SCYTALOPUS 
8. Scytalopus undulatus, Jard. and Selby, Ill. of Orn.; Jard. 
Contr. to Ornithol. 1851, part iv. 
D. Conconores. Aut feré concolores, collo antico pectoreque 
non albis sed dorso fere concolore. 
9. Malacorhynchus spelunce, Ménét. pl. 13, f. 1.— S. fuscus, 
Gould, Bon. Consp. Av. p. 206, habit. in provincia Minas Geraés, 
Ménét. 
Note. —The Prince Canino, in his Consp. Av. p. 206, cites this 
bird as synonymous with the Scytalopus fuscus of Gould, with an q 
We cannot take part with this opinion, 1st, Because Ménétriés, in 
tlie diagnosis of his M. spelunce, writes, “ Supra ceerulescente 
murinus; subtus pallidior; gutture, collo pectoreque albo cinereis ; 
alis caudaque fusco-nigricantibus, long. toto. 4.5; tail, 2; tars. or 
and he adds in his description, “ la queue est alongée a pennes larges 
et molles...... la couleur gris bleudtre du dos devient blanchatre 
yers le milieu de la gorge et de la postrine, &.,” which is very well 
expressed on the plate 18, f. 1, of Ménétriés. 
Now the Scytalopus fuscus of Gould, as it is described and figured 
on the plate in the Contr. to Ornithol., has all the plumage of a 
uniform sooty black, &e., “and presents a bird remarkable by the 
shortness of its tail and the uniformity of its coloration.” In com- 
paring the two descriptions and plates, it is impossible to look upon 
them as the same bird. The M. speluncee, inhabits in the province 
of Minas Geraés, while the Seytalopus fuscus of Gould inhabits the 
Straits of Magellan and Chili. 
10. Seytalopus fuscus, Gould, Proceedings, 1836, p. 90; Jard. 
Contr. to Ornithol. 1851, part iv. Platyurus niger, Swain. Anim. 
in Menag.’sp, 128, Chili. 
If we have quoted here the Platywrus niger of Swainson as syn0- 
nymous with the Scytalopus fuscus, it is because no bird can be 
considered as agreeing so well with the description of the Platyurus 
niger, Swainson, “ Entirely sooty black, tail short, inhabits Chile, 
size of a wren, total length, 4 in.; bill, gape, } in.; wings, 2 in-; 
tail short, almost hid by its covers, and about one inch from the 
base; feet pale, bill black ;” the uniformity in the colouring, the 
shortness of the tail, the habitation of these two birds, seem to me 
a very strong proof of their synonymy. 
11. Megalonyx negre (Hombron et Jacquinot), Voyage au Pole 
Sud, Ois. tab. 19, f. 1. Though this bird seems to have the great- 
148 
