| OCR Text |
Show 1870.] DR. O. FINSCH ON THE BIRDS OF TRINIDAD. 571 nidad (Cat. p. 222). But in our Venezuelan specimens of S. rufipennis the whole of the inner web of the secondaries is rufous, whereas in this Trinidad one the secondaries are still brown on the apical third of the feather. The rufous on the inner web of the tail-feathers is also more extended in S. rufipennis. The nearly allied S. maximiliani, Cab. (pitangua, Neuw.), from Brazil agrees in size and colours, except in having a broad white frontal band ; whereas in S. sulphuratus there exists only a narrow frontal line, the feathers of which are white with brownish shafts, the forehead therefore becoming washed strongly with white. S. maximiliani I got in a collection of birds from Ceara, in North Brazil, collected by Mr. Amandus Zietz of Hamburg. The southern S. bellicosus is easily distinguished hy the much larger size. S. sulphuratus of Burmeister (ii. p. 461) belongs to this latter species, and not to $. maximiliani. Long. al. caud. rostr. lat. rostr. tars. dig. med. 4" 2"' 3" 1'" 9f" 5'" 11"' 8'" (sulphuratus, Trinidad.) 4 41 3 3 11 5 lQjr - (sulphuratus, Trinidad.) 4 0 3 0 10 4\ 10lj 7\ (sulqihuratus, Guiana.) 4 3 3 0 10 4^ 11 7 (maximiliani, Brazil.) 4 4 2 11 11 5 11 7 (maximiliani, Brazil.) 5 1 3 7 12 5 14 8 (bellicosus, Paraguay.) 50. MEGARHYNCHUS PITANGUUS (L.); Cab. M. H. ii. p. 64. 3Iegarhynchus pitanguus, mexicanus et chrysogaster, Scl. Cat. p. 224. Megarhynchus chrysogaster, Leot. p. 208. Megarhynchus pitangua, Taylor, I. c. p. 86. Megarhynchus chrysocephalus, Cab. M. H. p. 65. Two specimens, agreeing in size and colours with others from Costa Rica, Guiana, and Brazil. "The climatic variety or species" from Ecuador, which Dr. Sclater separated as M. chrysogaster (P. Z. S. 1860, p. 281), does not merit a specific denomination. Our Guiana specimen shows the underparts darker yellow than that from Trinidad and Brazil. M. mexicanus, Lafr., said to be larger, is also by no means a distinguishable species. Our Brazilian one is as large as that from Costa Rica. Dr. Sclater himself mentions that Panama specimens (P. Z. S. 1864, p. 360) are " intermediate between M. mexicanus and M. chrysogaster of Ecuador, showing that these two forms pass into one another." Megarhynchus chrysocephalus (Tsch.), Heine (Journ. f. Orn. 1859, p. 345; Mus. Hein. ii. p. 65), from Venezuela, is, as Dr. Sclater already noticed, most probably this species, the true 31. chrysocephalus of Tschudi being totally different. Whether M. ruficeqjs, Sw., indeed belongs to M. pitanguus, as usually adopted, seems to be still somewhat dubious. We possess a specimen having a large bright cinnamon-red patch on the vertex, without any inclination to yellow or orange. |
