Volume Ii Part 15 (1/2)

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Xenops. (_Hoffmansegg. in Illiger. Prod._ p. 213).

_Rostrum mediocre, r.e.c.t.u.m, acutum, valde compressum, inverse cultratum_, i. e. _culmine recto, gonyde recurva ascendente. Nares basales, laterales, ovatae, parvae, patulae. Lingua--? Pedes mediocres, congrui. Digiti antici basi coadnati, laterales subaequales. Hallux digitum medium aequans._ Illiger.

Bill moderate, straight, acute, much compressed, and inversely curved; the top of the upper mandible being straight, and the edge of the lower ascending or recurved. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, small, and covered by a naked membrane. Tongue--? Feet moderate, claws united at their base, the lateral ones nearly equal; the hind claw as long as the leg and the middle toe.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_X. supra fusco-rufa, infra griseo-fusca; mento, superciliis maculisque jugularibus et pectoralibus albentibus; maculo infra aures niveo; remigum secundorum nigricantium basi fulva, apicibus marginibusque rufis._

Above reddish-brown, beneath grey-brown; chin, eyebrows, and spots on the throat and breast, whitish; beneath the ears a snowy spot; lesser-quills blackish, the base fulvous, the tips and margins rufous.

Xenops genibarbis _Illiger Prod._ p. 218. (1811.)

Neops ruficaudus _Vieillot. Orn. Elem._ p. 68. (1816.)

A very extraordinary and not inelegant little creature, having a bill totally different from any other bird. Its general habit evinces a close connexion with the _Sittae_, particularly those of New Holland; some of which have their bills (which are slender) slightly inclining upwards, thus forming a connexion between _Xenops_ and the straight billed _Sittae_ of the old world.

The figure is of the male, and its natural size; the head dark brown with pale spots; the back of a reddish tinge, and the rump and tail rufous; tail much rounded, and of twelve feathers; the three outer and the two pair in the middle entirely rufous, the other pair having the inner shafts black; the greater quills black; the last having an internal bar of pale fulvous.

Beneath the eye a spot of white downy feathers, with a dusky border above and below; there is a little difference between this and Illiger's bird, but it may be only s.e.xual.

Inhabits Brazil, but is rare.

Pl. 101

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PAPILIO Evander.

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 92.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_Pap. (Tro. dent.) Alis dentatis, nigris; posticis supra maculis quinque violaceo-chermesinis; anticis subtus fascia albida, transversa, media._ G.o.dart.