[Case 69. ] 
[Case 70. | 
[Case 70. ] 
112 BIRD GALLERY. 
base. They inhabit the dense forests or thick undergrowth of Central 
and Seuth America, and resemble Tits in their habits; but their food 
consists of fruits, berries, and seeds rather than insects, and their 
shallow nests are suspended from the branches of low shrubs. ‘Two 
subfamilies are recognised—the Piprine, including the smaller species 
in which the sexes are usually dissimilar, the males being brilliantly 
coloured and the females dull, and the Péilochlorine, birds of large size, 
mostly with dull plumage. Among the Piprinw we may call attention 
to Chloropipo flavicapilla (1683), with its elongate wings and tail, to 
Cirrhopipra filicauda (1698), with the shafts of the tail-feathers ending 
in long stiff filaments, to the members of the genera Metopia (1695) 
and Masius (1696-7), with their erect frontal plumes, and to the 
numerous species of brilliantly coloured Pipra (1700-5). Machero- 
pterus deliciosus (11707) is remarkable for the extraordinary structure of 
the secondary flight-feathers in the male, and Chiroviphia linearis (110Ta) 
for the thickened shafts of the primary quills and the greatly length- 
ened middle tail-feathers. The allied C. caudata (11708) is known in 
Brazil as the “ Dansador” or ‘‘ Fandango-bird,’ on account of its 
peculiar habit of dancing. When several individuals are assembled 
together, one often sits and pipes, while the remainder dance up and 
down to the music. When the musician becomes exhausted, he joins 
the dancers, and another takes his place. Of the Ptilochlorine examples 
will be found in Péilochloris squamatus (11716) and the sombre-coloured 
Heteropelma turdinum (1714). 
Family IT. Oxyruampuip®. SHARP-BILLS. 
The three representatives of this family belong to the genus Ovy- 
rhamphus (1719), found in Central and South America. They are 
easily distinguished from the Tyrannidw by the straight sharp-pointed 
bill and by the strongly serrated outer web of the first primary quill in 
the male. 
Family IV. Tyrannip#. TyRantT-BIRDs. 
This large and much varied group, numbering over 400 species, is 
entirely restricted to the New World, and is distributed over every part, 
except the extreme north, in greater or less abundance. Some ef the 
species are migratory, breeding in North America and wandering south 
in winter to Central and South America. They appear to take the 
place of the Flycatchers (Muscicapide) of the Old World, and, as in 
these birds, the majority have the bill greatly flattened and beset with 
bristles. From the other Oligomyodian families of the Mesomyodian 
Passeres they are distinguished by the scaling of the tarsi and by having 
the toes nearly free, as in the typical Passerine groups. 
