( 50) 



brown or reddish brown, feel brown, bill black, below greyish." — Wing 56 — 50 ; 

 tail 28—30 ; bill 8J— 9 mm. 



(? ad. Feathers of the forehead and crown blackish at the base, slightly 

 lamelliform and bright blue on the apical portion, forming a well-defined cap. 

 The colour is between " smalt bine " and " ultramarine bine " of Ridgway's Nomencl. 

 pi. ix. figs. 8 and 9, the posterior border of the cap being rather duller blue 

 than the rest. Lores, sides of the head, occiput and back deep velvety black. 

 Lesser and median upper wing-coverts velvety black, the latter with very narrow, 

 greenish apical margins; greater series dull black' with well-defined, though 

 narrow, dark green edges along the outer web. Quills dull blackish, outwardly 

 margined with dark green, these edges passing into dark smoky grey on the outer 

 primaries. Rump washed with dark, dull verditer blue (Ridg., Nomencl. pi. ix. 

 fig. 22). Upper tail-coverts dusky, margined with dull verditer bine on the tips. 

 lilt-trices dull black, exteriorly edged with green, especially on their basal half. 

 Throat deep velvety black like the back; sides of the chest dull black, slightly 

 mixed with dark greenish ; on the sides of the breast and abdomen this colour 

 gradually passes into a dull blackish green. Middle of the breast and belly, as 

 well as the lower tail-coverts, dirty yellowish. Axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 luliginous, somewhat shaded with greenish or yellowish ; feet dark brown ; bill 

 black, lower mandible pale greyish. 



? ad. Resembles the ? of P. coronata Spix, but has a larger bill, and 

 differs also by having the middle of breast and abdomen as well as the under 

 tail-coverts pure pale yellow, this colour being in strong contrast with the dark 

 green flanks. The throat seems to be rather more yellowish, less greyish. 



Type in Tring Museum : 6 ad., Tefte, 7. vi. 06. W. Hoffmanns' coll., 

 No. 769. 



The four c?c? present very little variation, the general colour being a deep 

 velvety black, and the cap being of the same shade of blue in all specimens. 

 In two examples the verditer blue of the rump is somewhat suffused with 

 greenish. They differ from the <? 3 of P. coronata, of which a very large series 

 from Upper Amazonia (including Spix' types), Eastern Ecuador and the upper 

 Rio Negro (Marabitanas, etc.) has been examined, in the following points : The 

 blue cap is much shorter, not being continued over the occiput and nape, and of 

 a much darker shade; the back, sides of the head, and throat are deep velvety 

 black (almost as in /'. coronata velutina Berl.) instead of dull brownish black ; 

 the rump is washed with dull verditer blue (not with violet) ; the greater upper 

 wing-coverts, the quills and rectrices are distinctly edged with green; the middle 

 of the breast and abdomen dull olive yellow, the sides dark green (instead of 

 all the under-surface being dull brownish black with a faint lilac gloss on the 

 belly). The bill, too, is decidedly larger and stronger. P. koffmannsi could at 

 first be mistaken for an immature stage of P. coronata, but the large bill, the 

 deep velvety black colour of the plumage, and the perfect similarity of the four 

 males from Tefle, render any such supposition impossible. In addition to these 

 differences, the ¥ ? are also more yellow below, and have a stronger beak than 

 those of /'. coronata, of which I have seen many from the Rio Negro and the 

 Peruvian Amazons. 



I have named this interesting new form after Mr. \V. Hoffmanns, to whom 

 the Tring Museum is indebted for so many valuable specimens from various 

 parts of tropical America. 



