DESCRIPTION OF THE ADULT FEMALE OF CARPODECTES AN- 

 TONIJE ZELEDON ; WITH CRITICAL REMARKS, NOTES ON HAB- 

 ITS, ETC., BY JOSE C. ZELEDON. 



BY KOBERT RIDGWAY. 



Adult female (No. 109S14, U. S. Nat. Mus., Pirris, Costa Eica, Sept. 

 14, 1886; Jos6 C. Zeledou) : Above plain slate-graj-, with a slight 

 brownish tinge ; wings slate-black, the middle and greater coverts and 

 secondaries broadly edged with white; tail plain dark slate; lower 

 parts pale gra^-, deeper across chest and along sides, fading into white 

 on lower belly, anal region, and under tail-coverts ; axillars and under 

 wing-coverts entirely pure white ; bill dark brown, blackish on culmen, 

 and fading into yellow on basal half of lower mandible and that portion 

 of upper beneath lores; iris dark brown, eyelids black. Length (skin) 

 7.C0, wing 4.90, tail 2.50, exposed culmen .62, tarsus .90. 



Several specimens were obtained by Mr. Zeledon, who secured also 

 additional examples of the male, and who sends the following observa- 

 tions on the species : " I was quite surprised to observe the great dis- 

 similarity between the two sexes, a fact which I had not suspected, 

 though it is almost the rule throughout the Cotingidcey at least so far 

 as the family is represented in Costa Eica. As I took particular pains 

 in ascertaining tiie sex of all the specimens, and have now before me 

 twenty-two males, differing in no respect whatever from the type, I 

 think it is perfectly safe to say that this species never has the black 

 tips of the wings seen in immature specimens of C. nitidus. One of my 

 specimens shows a somewhat smaller and paler bill and a few scattered 

 white feathers along the outside of the tarsi, no doubt indications of 

 immaturity. I cannot detect the slightest difference between the five 

 female specimens before me. . . . Judging from analogy, I am led 

 to believe that the female of 0. nitidus has not as yet been discovered, 

 and when obtained will prove to be fully as different from the uiale as 

 in the present case. 



" The bird cannot be called common, and it was by mere accident that 

 I came across a particular tree with ripe fruit for which it shows much 

 partiality, and there I stationed a man to watch and shoot the birds as 

 they arrived to feed. ... I have not heard its song, nor has any 

 one else, that I know of. The call-note resembles very much that of 

 Tityra per sonata.'''' 

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