Page:Birds of North and Middle America partV Ridgway.djvu/143

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BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA.

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[Thamnophilus] immaculatus Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 69, part.

Myrmelastes immaculatus Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Avea, ii, 1892, 225, part (Costa Rica and Panama localities and references). — Bangs, Proc. New Engl. Zool. Club, iii, 1902, 42 (Volcan de Chiriqui, 2,000 ft.).

[Myrmelastes] immaculatus Sharpe, Hand-list, iii, 1901, 32, part.

Myrmeciza immaculata Carriker, Ann. Carnegie Mus., vi, 1910, 618 (Caribbean slope Costa Rica, 1,000-4,000 ft.; crit.)^[1]

Myrmeciza zeledoni Ridgway, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xxii, April 17, 1909, 74 (Guayabo, Costa Rica; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.).

Genus FORMICARIUS Boddaert.

Formicarius Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl., 1783, 43. (Type, F. cayanensis Boddaert = F. colma Boddaert.)

(?) Myrmecophaga Lacépède, Tableaux Oiseaux, 1799, 6. (Type undeterminable, no species being named; nomen nudum.)

Myotthera Spix, Av. Sp. Nov. Brazil, i, 1824, 72. (Type, M. ruficeps Spix = Turdus colma Gmelin.)

Myothera D'Orbigny and Lafresnaye, Mag. de Zool., 1839 (Synopsis Avium, p. 14). (Type, M. analis D'Orbigny and Lafresnaye.)

Myrmothera, part, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816, 43, 70. (Type, none specified, and no species named; includes "Befroi, et quelques autres fourmilliers de Buffon").

Myocincla Swainson, Classif. Birds, ii, 1837, 230. (Type, Turdus colma Gmelin = Formicarius colma Boddaert.)

Rather large Formicariidæ (length about 150-180 mm.) with very dense, compact plumage; bill much shorter than head, depressed basally; short, rounded tail (less than two-thirds as long as the short and concave, rather pointed wing); latero-frontal antiæ with feathering short and dense; scutellate tarsi, short anterior claws, and plain coloration.

Bill shorter than head (exposed culmen about as long as distance from nostril to posterior angle of eye), with straight lateral outlines, slightly depressed basally, its width at latero-frontal antiæ greater than its depth at same point and equal to half the distance from nostril to tip of maxilla, or slightly less; culmen distinctly ridged, straight or nearly so for most of its length, decurved terminally, the tip of maxilla inconspicuously and rather obtusely uncinate; maxillary tomium slightly convex posteriorly, straight anteriorly, slightly notched sub terminally; mandibular tomium faintly concave posteriorly, nearly straight or very faintly convex anteriorly, very

indistinctly notched subterminally; gonys decidedly to rather

↑ Mr. Carriker erroneously concludes that because six skins of "Myrmeciza immaculata (Lafresnaye)" from western Colombia agree closely with Costa Rican specimens of M. zeledoni, the latter is not a tenable form. He quite overlooked the fact that the specimens from western Colombia which he examined are not Thamnophilus immaculatus of Lafresnaye, which is so different that their confusion would be almost impossible if specimens are actually compared. His observations simply extend the range of M. zeledoni to western Colombia.

[1] Mr. Carriker erroneously concludes that because six skins of "Myrmeciza immaculata (Lafresnaye)" from western Colombia agree closely with Costa Rican specimens of M. zeledoni, the latter is not a tenable form. He quite overlooked the fact that the specimens from western Colombia which he examined are not Thamnophilus immaculatus of Lafresnaye, which is so different that their confusion would be almost impossible if specimens are actually compared. His observations simply extend the range of M. zeledoni to western Colombia.

[1]