BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 877 



Genus CEPH ALOPTERUS Geoffroy St.-Hilaire. 



Cephaloptcrvs Geoffroy 8t.-Hilaire, Ann. du Mas., xiii, 1809, 235. (Type, 



C. ornatiis Geoffroy St.-Hilaire). 

 Alticeps GisTEL, Naturg. des Thierreichs fiir hohere Schulen, 1848, p. viii. (New 



name for Cephaloptcrus Geoffroy St.-Hilaire.) 



Very large, uniform black Cotingidae, with an erect umbrella-like 

 crest. 



Bill shorter than head, broad and rather depressed at base, its 

 width at nostrils considerably exceeding its depth at same point; 

 culmen forming a broad rounded ridge, gradually curved from base, 

 more strongly so terminally, the tip of maxilla distinctly but obtusely 

 uncinate; maxillary tomium distinctly notched subterminally, gently 

 concave or nearly straight behind notch, slightly convex basally; 

 gonys longer than mandibular rami, but decidedl}^ shorter than dis- 

 tance from nostril to tip of maxilla; interramal space broader basally 

 than long. Nostrils exposed, obliquely broadly oval. Rictal bristles 

 well developed, recurved. Wing long and broad, with longest pri- 

 maries exceeding secondaries by about the length of exposed culmen; 

 sixth, seventh, and eighth primaries longest, the ninth shorter than 

 fif lIi, the tenth about equal to first (both decidedly shorter than long- 

 est secondaries), all of normal form. Tail about half as long as wing, 

 disanclly rounded, the rectrices broad, with rounded or faintly acu- 

 minate tip. Tarsus about as long as mandible (to commencement 

 of malar feathering), its scutellation typically pycnaspidean; middle 

 toe, with claw, about as long as tarsus, its basal phalanx completely 

 adherent to outer toe, more than half adherent to inner toe; outer toe 

 decidedly but not conspicuously shorter than middle toe, the inner 

 (without claw) reaching to about middle of subterminal phalanx of 

 middle toe; hallux (%\athout claw) decidedly shorter than inner toe 

 but much stouter, its basal pad (tylarus) broad and flattened, its con- 

 spicuously extruded inner edge continuous with that of the inner toe ; 

 claws moderate in size, rather strongly curved, broad, and com- 

 pressed. 



Plumage and coloration. — Contour feathers in general broad and 

 rounded, distinctly outlined, especially on upper parts; those on sides 

 of head narrower, more blended, with rather conspicuously developed 

 shafis on loral and orbital regions. Pileum with a very conspicuous 

 erec.ile crest of nearly straight more or less rigid feathers, surmounted 

 by an expanded, recurved, loosel}^ webbed tip; this crest is attached 

 to a contractile skin, and when erected and expanded forms a remark- 

 able and wholly unique dome-like or umbrella-shaped ornament. 

 To the center of the foreneck is attached an elongated, slender, pend- 

 ant appendage, covered with imbricated feathers in two species (in 

 one of which it reaches the remarkable length of more than 300 mm.. 



