HI 



CORAC1NA. 



CORACINA. 



1 The principal characters of Gymnoderus, Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, rest 

 on the possession of a bill like that of the Coracinee and Cephalopteri, 

 with a partially naked neck and a head covered with velvety feathers. 

 Q. foslidui. It is Coracir.a gymnodera, Vieillot ; Conns nudus, 

 Latham ; Gracula nudifollis, Shaw ; Gracula j&tida, Linnaeus ; Col- 

 Nu, Buffon. Rather larger than the jackdaw, but the body is thick 

 and fleshy. The sides of the neck are entirely naked, and only pre- 

 sent some traces of down. Buffon's figure, on the contrary (Planches 

 Enhim. 609), represents this part as being clothed with a considerably 

 thick down. Upper part of the head, back of the neck and throat, 

 covered with small close-set feathers like black velvet. External 

 edges of the quills of the middle of the wing, the last quills, and all 

 the wing-coverts, bluish-gray. Great quills and tail-feathers black, 

 with bluish reflections. The rest of the plumage, bill, and feet, black. 

 Eyes red brown, with a yellow skin beneath. The female is smaller, 



\ and of a brownish black. It is a native of Brazil and Guyana. 



Cttraeina icutala. 



result of a particular habit ; and in the ' History of the Birds of 

 Paradise ' has printed a note, in which he affirms that he had received 

 from Cayenne a specimen having this part well covered with feathers; 

 but M. Lesson adds that he himself had seen at Rochefort more 

 than twenty skins of Gymnocephali, and that all had the face bare of 

 feathers. However it may be, he continues, this genus entirely 

 requires revision. 



0. calrut, the Capuchin Baldhead. It is the Coracina yymnocephala, 

 Vieillot ; Cormu calvut, Latham. Size of the crow ; and of the colour 

 of Spanish snuff, or, as some authors write it, Capuchin colour, whence 

 the Creoles of Cayenne give it the name of Oiseu mon Pere. The 

 quills and the tail-feathers are black. The large beak and ample fore- 

 head bare of feathers give a singular air to this bird. Vieillot observes 

 that it has been compared to the rook, on account of the nakedness 

 of the head, a comparison which seems to him just; "for," say? 

 Vieillot, " it has not this part naked till it is adult, the young, like 

 the young rook, having the head entirely feathered, and even the 



Capuchin Baldhead ((rymnocephatut caltiu}. 



nostrils covered with small setaceous feathers, as I can testify, from 

 the inspection <>f a young individual of which I have made mention 

 in the first edition of the ' Xouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle.' " 

 It is a native of Guyana. 

 Oymnodenu (Coracina, Vieillot, Temminck ; Cotinya, Le Vaillaut). 



' 



(j'yittnoderiis fatidtt.i, male. 



Cfphaloptmu. Bill strong, robust ; mandibles nearly equal, the 

 upper one convex and scarcely curved at the summit, not notched at 

 the point ; lower mandible flattened below. Nostrils longitudinal, 

 open, hollowed into an oval excavation ; bristles at the border of the 

 bill, which infringe a little on the frontal feathers. Two rows of 

 feathers, taking their origin on the forehead, and elevating themselves 

 into a plume or crest on the head. The feathers of the neck form a 

 kind of pendent pelerine in front of the neck, which is naked. 



C. ornattu. It is the Coracina cephaloptcra of Vieillot. Colour a 



