( 209 ) 



NOTES ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS, MADE BY 

 MONS. A. ROBERT IN THE DISTRICT OF PARA, BRAZIL. 



By C. E. HELLMAYR. 



ALTHOUGH small, this collection is of great interest, as it adds somewhat 

 to onr scanty knowledge of the fauna of Paril. Since Natterer's and 

 AYallace's time very little has been done in the exploration of the avifauna 

 of tliat interesting district. Mr. Layard * collected some birds in 18T2, and 

 Professor J. B. Rteere made small collections at different times — about which, 

 however, nothing has been published, except some short notes on a few species, f 

 and the description of a new Synallaxis. + Mr. W. A. Schulz sent a series of birds 

 to Count Berlepsch, collected in 1892-94. Among them there was a specimen 

 of the beautiful lost Pijjva opalizans Pelz., § but a list of the other species 

 contained in his collection has not yet ajipeared. il Thns we are far from a thorough 

 knowledge of the ornithology of Pari'i, and it is to be hoped that some enter- 

 prising collector may continue the work so successfully taken up again by Mons. 

 Alphonse Robert. 



His collection was brought together at a place called Igarape-Assi), which 

 lies on the railway rnnning from Parj'i to Bragau(;a, about half-way between these 

 two places. It numbers only about two hundred specimens, representing eighty- 

 nine species. Nevertheless, it contains tsvo very distinct new species and a hitherto 

 o\er\ookei[ ^onn oi J >eropti/as ucripitriiiiiii. Moreover, there are ten species which 

 have not yet been recorded from Panl, and such rarities as I'ipra opalizans, 

 Calo.spiza albi'iiiiiae, and Ueliotlirir auriculatiis phdiuolaema. Two other birds, a 

 Mi/riiiotkt'iiiUi and the Rki/ncliocijclas olicaceus of the following list, will also prove 

 to be new to science when a better series is available for comparison. 



A consideration about the relations of the Paril fauna would be premature 

 now, and must be deferred until further and more extensive researches have been 

 made. 



From the little information we have as yet obtained it is evident that the 

 district of Pari belongs to the great Amazonian snbregion : bnt quite a number 

 of species of the East Brazilian forest region extend their range to Parii, and 

 there are also a good many peculiar species, of which only the following need 

 be mentioned •.—Pipra op<ili.~aiis, Xipholeno, lameUipeiinis, Di/sithamiius iiicertus, 

 Hi/pocncmis tidua, Pldegopsis paraensis, Coitopophaga roberti, Deiic/rexctastes 

 paraensis, Si/nallaxis omissa, Gymnostinops bifasciatus, Heliothrix auriculatiis 

 pliainohicma, Pipile aijubi, and Crax pinima. Some of these may perhaps be 

 traced farther inland along the Lower Amazons, but it is to be remembered 

 that Mr. Hiker H met with a very different lot of birds at Santarem. 



* E. L. Layarti, " Notes on Birds observed at Para," Ihts^ 1S7:^, pp. 37-l-3iH). 



t Sclater & Salvin, "On the Collection of Birds made liy I'rof. Steere in South America"; P.y..!i. 

 1S78. pp. 135-142. 



X Si/tuiHaxts (imissa Hartert, lliilf. lirif. Or/i. f'l. xi. No. si {.lanu.iry lltoi) p. 71. 



§ Berlepsch, Ihis. 1S98, p. (JO. 



II 1 do not mention Dr. (loeldi's list of the birds from the Upper Capim liiver, as this district is 

 faunistically not quite identical with that of Para (cf. IhU, 1903, pp. 472-500). 



t Aiili, vii. (1890), pp. 131-37, 265-71 ; viii. (1S91) pp. 24-31, 158-64. 



