THE CHATTERERS 1711 



The cotingas are a group of chatterers, distinguished from their near 

 allies, the bell birds, by the brilliancy of the coloration of the males. 

 The type has the bill depressed, broad at the base, and narrowed toward the ex- 

 tremity, the upper mandible slightly arched; the wings are of moderate size and 

 pointed; the metatarsus short, and the toes stout, and furnished with fine claws. 

 The cotingas inhabit the forests of Southern Brazil. The banded cotinga (Cotinga 

 tincta) is a bird of solitary habits, keeping to the topmost branches of trees, and 

 generally residing in a dense forest, though at times it approaches the cultivated 

 grounds in search of food. It feeds upon a variety of fruits, which its wide gape 

 enables it to swallow with ease. The adult male has the upper parts and the band 

 across the breast full ultramarine blue, while the under parts are of a deep plum 

 color. 



These birds {Pipra) are of gay appearance, generally exhibiting 

 rich tints of blue, crimson, scarlet, orange, or yellow in combination 

 with chestnut, deep black, black and white, or olive green; and among their most 

 obvious characteristics are their short bill and feeble feet, of which latter the fourth 

 toe is united to the third toe for a good part of its length. Some few are crested, 

 and the tail is very short in the majority of species, but in others the central feath- 

 ers are much elongated. Although the white-headed manakin has a wide distribu- 

 tion, ranging from the valley of the Amazon to the Isthmus of Panama, the 

 majority of the species are confined to Brazil. Among them, the common manakin 

 (Pipra manacus), which is spread over a large portion of South America, is a lively, 

 active, restless species, generally to be seen in motion. Making its home in the 

 dense scrub of aboriginal forests, avoiding large trees, and flitting through the 

 bushes at a short distance from the ground, with a short but swift flight, it is a bird 

 of social disposition, being rarely found solitary, electing to live a common life with 

 its fellows. The most curious fact about this manakin, and certain of its allies, is 

 the circumstance that its wings are modified by the thickening of the shafts ta 

 produce a loud noise, which has been compared to the whir of a spinning wheel. 

 The adult has the crown and upper parts black, as are the wings and tail; the rump 

 being gray, and the throat and under parts white. 



Cocks of ^e D * r d s of the genus Riipicola are remarkable for their brilliant 



th R k coloration, especially that of the males, in all of which orange red 

 predominates. The type has the bill of moderate size, curving 

 toward the extremity; the upper mandible being as wide as it is high, compressed 

 at the base, and notched at the points; while the nostrils are oval, and hidden by 

 the feathers of the elevated crest; the wings short and rounded, with the fourth and 

 fifth quills the longest; the tail of variable length; the metatarsus partially invested 

 with feathers, and the feet large and strong. Of the group the best-known species 

 (Rupicola crocea] inhabits Guiana and the lower countries of the Amazon; while 

 farther to the westward it is replaced by the Peruvian cock of the rock, a third 

 species inhabiting Ecuador. 



Although in confinement a somewhat indolent species, such is not the character 

 of the cock of the rock in its native wilds. Sometimes a score or so of male and 

 female birds of this species are observed to have assembled in the neighborhood of 



