( 359 ) 



4:!. Pipra caelesti-pileata Goeldi. 

 /'ijini caelesti-jiileata Goeldi, Compt. Hunt. Six. Couijr. Internal. Zool. Berne, p. 54!) (May 25th, 

 1905.*— upper Rio Puriis, W. Brazil). 



Nos. 1232, 11(37, 1108, 1201, 1202. <? c? ad, Humaytha, 18, 20, 31. viii., 

 13. ix. 06. " Iris brownish red or dark red, feet dark brown, bill black." — Wing 

 57—59; tail 27—20; bill 8—9 mm. 



No. 1214. c? jr., Humaytha, 0. ix. 00. "Iris reddish brown, feet blackish 

 brown, bill black."— Wing 58 ; tail Z1\ ; bill 9 mm. 



No. 1120. ? ad., Humaytha, 20. viii. 00. " Iris red, feet brown, bill greyish 

 black."— Wing 56J ; tail 20 ; bill 9 mm. 



When Dr. Goeldi showed me the types of his P. caelesti-pileata, two years 

 ago, I somewhat hastily concluded that they belonged to the same form as the 

 skins from Peru upon which I had founded my P. exquisita.f The fine series 

 sent by Mr. Hoffmanns, however, proves beyond doubt that the two forms are 

 perfectly distinct. 



Compared with the three <$ S ad. from Ghnchurras, the specimens from 

 Humaytha differ in the following details : the upper parts are of a much darker 

 green (a shade lighter than "French green," Ridgw. x. 19, — while they are 

 bright grass green, Ridgw. x. 4, in P. exquisita') ; the sides of the head and the 

 throat blackish green (instead of dull bice-green [Ridgw. x. 10]) ; the green on 

 the foreneck and sides of the chest is likewise more intense ; the yellow in the 

 middle of the belly paler, duller, and less extended ; the under tail-coverts decidedly 

 paler yellow. The most striking difference, however, consists in the colour of 

 the pileum, which is delicate nile- or turquoise-blue (Ridgw. ix. 23 and 20) in 

 P. exquisita, intense azure-blue (Ridgw. ix. 15) in P. caelesti-pileata. 



There is but little variation in the six males from Humaytha. In two 

 specimens, Nos. 1232 and 1107, the azure-blue crown is bordered behind by a narrow 

 line of ultramarine blue, which is but slightly indicated or even wanting in the 

 other examples. In No. 1232 the sides of the head and the throat are almost black 

 with a faint greenish sheen, and the crown is a shade darker. 



The type of P. caelesti-pileata from the Rio Purus, most obligingly lent by 

 Dr. Goeldi, agrees in all essential points with our Humaytha series, except in being 

 of a decidedly clearer and brighter green on the upper parts. This, however, is 

 not likely to be a constant character, as an adult male from Chyavetas, North 

 Pern (coll. Bartlett — Brit. Mus.) is practically identical with the birds from the 

 Rio Madeira. Moreover, the female from Humaytha shows the same light green 

 coloration as the Purus specimen. I am unable to find any difference between 

 our female from Humaytha and that of P. exquisita from Chuehurras. 



Although P. exquisita, P. caelesti-pileata aud P. hoffmannsi evidently 

 represent each other geographically, I refrain, for the present, from employing 

 trinomials, since they are most probably only subspecies of the wholly black 

 P. coronata. Further researches are required to clear up the relations of all 

 these forms aud their geographical distribution. The range of the three blue- 

 capped species lately described is as follows : 



a. P. exquisita Hellm. 



Only known from ( 'huehurras, a village on the Rio Pozuzo, province 

 Huanuco, Central Peru, altitude 1200 ft. 



* Although dated " sorti de presse le -.3 uiai 1905," the volume does not seem to have been issued 

 until October or November 1905. 

 ■) Ibis, 1906, pp. 35, 36. 



25 



