My thanks are due to Mr. Alfred Wallace for allowing me to
examine this and many other birds collected by him on the
Amazons and Rio Negro. As Dr. von Tschudi mentions the
present species as an inhabitant of north-east Peru, and
Mr. Wallace’s specimens were from Para, we must conclude
that it inhabits the whole region of the upper and lower Amazon.
3. Malacoptila Torquata (Hahn).
Bucco torquatus, Hahn, Ausl. Yog. pi. 13. p. 5.
Buceo fuscus, Licht. Yerz. d. Doubl. p. 8.
Bucco striatus, Spix, Av. Bras. i. t. 40. fig. 2. p. 53.
Capita striatus, Du Bois, Om. Gal. p. 34. pi. 22.
Capito fuscus, Max. Beit. iv. 364.
Lypornix torquata, adult, Wagl. S. Av. sp. 4.
Lypornioe striata, Sw. Om. Draw. pi. 34.
Monasafusca, Bp. j Gray’s Gen. p. 74 (pars); Bp. Consp. p. 147 (pars).
_ M. nigrescenti-brunnea rufescente fulvo stria ta : dorso imo
remigibus et rectricibus immaculatis e t. pallidioribus: plaga
> pectorali alba infra vitta nigra margin a ta : loris et ventre
1 summo rufescentibus: ventre laterali virescentiore brunneo,
- medio cum erisso albescentiore : pedibus nigresceiitibus:
rostro nigro.
Long, tota 8*0 ; alse 3*7; caudse 3*7.
Hah. in Brasilia Mcr. Or. (Max.); Bahia (Licht.).
The present bird is one of the best known of its genus, and
perhaps the commonest in, collections; . Prince Maximilian of
- Neuwied gives the following account of it:'—r .
“ This Puff-bird is one of the commonest wood-birds in South
Brazil. Near Rio de Janeiro, about S. Cristovao, I found it in
all the thick woods, even in the neighbourhood of dwellings'.'
They sit still and melancholy upon a lo\Y bough, or upon the
ground, or hop about on the watch for insects, the remains of
which are found in their stomachs. In the south provinces near
Rio, Cabo Frio, on the Parahyba, and still ^farther north, they
are common; An the more northerly provinces that I travelled
through^ I did not meet with them bo often. They are by no
means timid, and are easy to be shot.”
4. Malacoptila fulvogIjlaris, Sclater.
Malacoptila fulvogularis, Sclater, Pr. Z; S. 1853, Dec. 13th.
M. capite toto et dorso summo nigris, scapis plumarum leviter
fulvis: dorso alis caudaque fuliginoso-brunneis; dorso medio
punctis paueis triangularibus fulvis; uropygii plumis anguste
fulvo marginatis; cauda immaculata : mento et. gutture toto
clare fulvis: pectore nigro, scapis plumarum late albis: ventre
leviter fulvescente.
Long, tota 8*5; alse 3*7.
Hab. in Bolivia (Mus. Derb.). -
The only specimen of this species I have yet seen is in the
Derby Museum at Liverpool. The bill is black, the head
brownish black passing into brown on the back and rump; the
top and sides of the head’ and upper neck have the shafts of the
feathers and the adjoining barb of a clear wood-brown; on the
middle of the back are a, few triangular spots of clear brown;
the rump-feathers are narrowly edged with lighter brown. The
wing- and tail-feathers are clear brown, the wing-feathers lighter
on the outside edge. The ehin and whole throat are clear fulvous;
the breast-feathers are medially whitish and bordered with
blackish brown. The belly and crissum are fulvous whitish.
In the colouring of the head and upper neck this species resembles
the preceding.
5. Malacoptila substriata, Sclater.
MaTatipptila substriata, Sclater, Pr. Zool. Soc. Dec. 13th, 1853.
M. sgpra umbrino-brupnea capite’ nigrescentiore: capite et dorso
summo longitror sum, fulvo striolatis: dorsi uropygiique plumis
rufescente ochracfeo anguste marginatis*; alis caudaque immaculate
eineraseenti-brunneisjj; loris* et mystacibus elongatis
albis ^fateitbus capitis et corpore infra nigreseentibus, ochraceo
albo late stn a tis: gula hiedia’dt pectore toto rufescente
i: bchraeeo : vfehtre brunneo^et*ochraceo-albido confuse mixto .*
. cauda, subtus cmera§centiore: rostro pedibusque nigris.
Long.' tota 7*8j&;al8e 3*8; caudse 3"8.
Hab. in Novi? Grenada.
In -the curiously produced- feathers descending from each
extremity of'me lower mandible, this species agrees with the
three following, and they are also all four closely allied in plumage.
6. Malacoptila aspersa, Sclater.
Malacoptila aspersa, Sclater, Pr- Zool. Soc. Dec. 13th, 1853-
M. supra fuligihoSo-brunnea, dorso rufescentiore | alis caudaque
immaculate brunneis: nucha dorso toto et alarum tectricibus
maculis trianghlaribus clare fuftis aspersis: Idas albescenti-
bus': Vepfflii auricularis plumarum scapis pallide fulvis:
jA'.mystacibus'ff plumis mentalibus rigidis: gula alba : pectore
in ferrugineum transeunte : ventre toto crissoque obscure
• albis ferrugineo tinctis: pectore et-ventris lateribus obsolete
fuligihoso striatis i rostro nigro, mandibula inferiore ad basin
flava: pedibus obscure brunneiSv - ’;
Long, tbi.3 7 ‘2&; alse 3*2'; caudse 3*2.
Hab. Caraccas in Venezuela. '
c