536 Penard, The Genus Buihraupis. [o" t k 



primary cause of the evolution of bird-song" must agree with Mr. 

 Hawkins that the bird's "joy of living" itself arises out of the 

 sexual impulse, and those of us who consider the evolution of song 

 more complex must still trace its origins back to sexuality. Even 

 without accepting the Freudian theories in their entirety, we must 

 recognize the power of the primary instincts, and there can be 

 little doubt that it is the reproductive instinct that accounts for 

 bird-song, however various were the processes through which it 

 was evolved. 



REVISION OF THE GENUS BUTHRAUPIS CABANIS. 



BY THOMAS E. PENARD. 



The generic name Buihraupis was proposed, without designation 

 of type, by Cabanis (Mus. Hein., i, 1S50, p. 29) for Tanagra mon- 

 tana d'Orbigny and Tanagra e.vimia Boissonneau, with Tanagra 

 cucullata Jardine listed as synonym of B. e.vimia. Subsequent 

 writers have used either T. montana or T. cucullata as type of 

 the genus. The first mention of a type, however, seems to have 

 been by G. R. Gray (Cat. Gen. and Subgen. Birds, 1855, p. 73), 

 who selected " Tanagra montana Lafr." [= Tanagra montana 

 d'Orbigny, = Aglaia montana d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye], the 

 first species listed by Cabanis under the new genus. 



As at present understood, Buihraupis is a composite group. 

 Ridgway (U. S. N. M., Bull. 50, pt. ii, 1902, p. 32) has called 

 attention to the widely differing structural characters in its mem- 

 bers, stating, however, that on the basis of the shape of the bill 

 alone the genus could not be subdivided without making four 

 groups, the first to include B. cucullata and B. montana, the second 

 B. arccei and B. cceruleigularis, the third B. chloronota, and the 

 fourth B. ezimia. He also called attention to the very much 

 shorter tails in the group containing B. arccei and B. cceruleigularis, 

 but preferred to leave the genus with the usually assigned limits. 



