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Show 1879.] BIRDS F R O M ANTIOQUIA. 527 collection. It must be placed amongst the " uniforrnes " of Sclater's arrangement (Ibis, 1877) between G. griseinucha and G. rufula. 264. GRALLARIA RUFICAPILLA (Lafr.); Scl. Ibis, 1877, p. 447. Concordia, Sta. Elena. (Mus. S.-G.) Iris dark. Stomach contained insects. Eggs (no. Ill) greenish-blue: axis 1*23, diam. 1*04. (See Plate XLIII. fig. 6.) " In the morning, and shortly before sunset, may be heard a melancholy cry as this Ant-Thrush creeps amongst the brushwood. Many times have I followed to obtain a specimen, and after a tough scramble of an hour given it up for a bad job. At one time you seem to stand right upon it, and a moment after you hear it 4 yards off; again you reach the spot, and you hear it 20 yards behind you; you return, then it is on the right; soon after you hear it on the left. At first you imagine the bird has the power of a ventriloquist; but by dint of patience and watching you may see it creeping swiftly and silently among the grass and brushwood in places where it has to pass a rather more open spot, and the mystery is explained. " The nest is also difficult to obtain : it is placed at some height from the ground, and made of a mass of roots, dead leaves, and moss, lined with roots and fibres. The eggs are two in number, rather round and blue."-T. K. S. 265. GRALLARICULA NANA (Lafr.); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 76. Grallaria nana, Lafr. R. Z. 1842, p. 334. Sta. Elena. (Mus. S.-G.) 266. GRALLARICULA CUCULLATA (Sclater), Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 76. Conopophaga cucullata, Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 29, pi. 119, et 1858, p. 287, et Cat. A. B. p. 194. Sta. Elena. (Mus. P. L. S. and S.-G.) Iris dark. Stomach contained insects. Eggs (no. 75) pale coffee-colour, spotted and blotched with dark red-brown spots: axis *8, diam. *65. This little bird does not range very satisfactorily either in Grallaricula or in Conopophaga, where it was first placed by Sclater, but is best arranged in the former genus, being not very far in structure from G. flavirostris. M r. Salmon's specimens have the rufous head and throat not nearly so decided as in Sclater's type (which is a Bogota skin) ; and the tarsi are slightly longer. The rufous wing-edgings and the red tint in the middle of the belly are likewise absent in Mr. Salmon's specimen, which, though marked male, must, we think, if really of the same species, be a female. The figure (P. Z. S. 1856, pi. 119) is much too brightly coloured. |