430 Zoological Society. 



attingente, omnino plumis ohtecto : rostra siiperiore nigra, infe- 

 riore plumbeo ; pedibus nigris. 

 Long, tota 14*5, alee 9*5, caudae 4-5, rostri a fronte 1"7, tarsi TS. 



Two ex., both males. " Irides reddish," This extraordinary bird 

 forms a third species of the peculiar genus Cephalopterus of Geoffroy 

 St.-TIilaire, of which the type G. ornatus is now well known in col- 

 lections, and commonly called the "Umbrella-bird." It is consider- 

 ably smaller than C. ornatus, as may be seen by comparing the 

 measurements given above with the following taken from a fine 

 example of the latter species in Mr. Gould's collection. Whole 

 length 17*5, wing ll'O, tail 6*5, bill from the front \9, tarsus 2*1. 

 The peculiar characteristic of the present bird is, however, the length 

 of the throat-lappet, which measures in one specimen 10 inches in 

 length, in the other 8^ inches. In Cephalopterus ornatus the throat- 

 lappet in the male measures about 4 inches. Here also it is much 

 broader, and conceals a bare space on the neck, of which there is no 

 appearance in the present bird. In Cephalopterus glabricollis* , the 

 only other known species of this curious form, which was discovered 

 by Warscewicz in Veragua, described by Mr. Gould, and figured 

 in the 'Proceedings Zool. Soc' 1850, p. 92, pi. xx.), the fore- 

 chest and neck, as well as the base of the throat-lappet, are entirely 

 denuded. 



jNIr. Eraser's notes on this bird are, " Bocinero — found solitary in 

 the high trees in the deep forest. His name is taken from his note, 

 which resembles the noise made by the Indians when sounding their 

 large shells, or (as others compare it to) the bellowing of a bull. At 

 this time they are said to inflate the neck-appendage to nearly 

 3 inches in diameter, and to spread the crest as much over the face 

 as possible. But a lady, who once had one alive, told me that when 

 it slept its crest was thrown forward, and that when it uttered its 

 note the feathers were thrown backward, showing the white stems. 

 The appendage to the throat had not any opening to view ; nor could 

 one be found by blowing into the mouth or nostrils. It is rather 

 contracted in drying than otherwise. The gizzard of one specimen 

 contained fruit and seeds." 



I have lately received from MM. Verreaux of Paris a skin of a 

 Cephalopterus out of a collection received from Bogota. The spe- 

 cimen is not in good order, having been much contracted in drying, 

 and deprived of its feet ; but from its small size, white under wing- 

 coverts, and narrow throat-lappet (which, however, is only 2*5 inches 

 in length), it is apparently of this same species, being probably a fe- 

 male, or possibly a young male bird. It seems, therefore, probable 

 that Cephalopterus penduliger occupies the valleys on the western 

 side of the Andean range, as C. ornatus those on the eastern side, 

 and that C. glabricollis takes their place in Central America. 



* The suggestion of a recent writer in the Zoology of Castelnau's Expedition 

 (Oiseaux, p. 65), that this species is the adult stage of Cephalopterus ornatus, we 

 regard as simply ridiculous. 



