19 NOV. 1907 



Novitates Zoological. 



Vol. XIV. NOVEMBER, 1907. No. 2. 



ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS MADE BY MR. W. 

 HOFFMANNS ON THE RIO MADEIRA, BRAZIL. 



By C. E. HELLMAYR. 



(Plate III) 



AFTER leaving Teffe, Mr. Hoffmanns, whose name is already familiar to the 

 readers of this journal, went to Hnmaytha, a small village on the left bank 

 of the Rio Madeira, where he collected for abont ten weeks. A fortnight was 

 spent at Paraizo, on the opposite side of the river, but only a few birds were 

 obtained. Mr. Hoffmanns then proceeded to Borba, on the right bank, farther 

 down the Rio Madeira. Owing to bad health, however, he was obliged to give 

 up his work after several weeks, and to return home. Although the collection 

 of birds thus gained is far from being exhaustive, it contains much valuable 

 material and several novelties, the most remarkable being the strikingly distinct 

 Anoplops hoffmannsi Hellm. A large series of the charming Pipra nattereri, hitherto 

 only known from a single male and some females in the Vienna Museum, was 

 secured under considerable difficulties ; and a number of other s]>ecies discovered 

 by Natterer and never obtained since, likewise fell to Mr. Hoffmanns' gun. 



As far as I am aware, the only ornithological collecting ever done on the 

 Rio Madeira is due to the late J. Natterer. This celebrated naturalist, when on 

 his way from Mattogrosso to the Amazonas, stopped at several places on the upper 

 part of that river (near Salto Girao, Ribeirao, etc.), and made a stay of more than 

 six mouths at Borba, then the capital of a province. The results of his researches 

 are embodied in Pelzeln's Ornithologie Br asi liens, a work which 1 had frequently 

 to consult in the preparation of this paper. 



As Mr. Hoffmanns has returned to his old hunting-grounds, we may Boon 

 expect further collections, which will afford us more ample material for the 

 consideration of the zoogeographical position of the Rio Madeira, and 1 will confine 

 myself to a few remarks on certain differences which seem to exist between the 

 avifauna of Hntnaytha aud that of Borba. Hnmaytha has a number of species 

 widely distributed in North and East Peru aud Eastern Ecuador, but nut known 

 from the Lower Rio Madeira. Such are : Pipra eaelesti-pileata, Dendrexetastes 

 devillei, Tkamnomanes cacti//* persimilis, Myrmotherula h. hauxwelli, Aunjdops 

 salvini, A. melanosticta, Ramp/iastos cuvieri, Pteroglossus beaukarnae&ii, Galb/da 

 tembacea cyanescens, Prionirhynchus platyrkynckm pyrrholaemus, Conurus wed- 

 dellii, Pyrrhura picta lucianii, < 'rypturus bartletti, etc. 



in other cases the Upper Amazonian Bpecies found near Humaytha are replaced 

 ou the Lower Rio Madeira (Borba) by closely related forms. For this the following 

 examples may be cited : 



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