35o DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



swamps of South America. At the pairing season, 

 the plumage of the males is coloured with crim- 

 son and azure, and is generally grey during the 

 rest of the year. Some species with a strong 

 pointed beak feed on insects, and those with a 

 weak depressed one feed on berries. Amongst 

 seventeen species in the Museum, the most beau- 

 tiful are the ampelis carnifex, pompadora, and 

 colinga ; the purple cotinga (coracias milita- 

 ris, Sh.), the white cotinga (ampelis carur.cu- 

 lata), which has a caruncle upon its head. The 

 ampelis variegata, whose plumage is green dur- 

 ing the first year, and ash-grey when the bird is 

 full grown, is besides remarkable for the bundle 

 of fleshy caruncles which hang under its throat. 



The numerous family of the flycatchers, di- 

 vided into several genera, and of which the 

 Museum possesses one hundred and fifty species, 

 occupies the lower shelf of this case. The spe- 

 cies with a wide depressed beak belong to the 

 genus gnatsnapper (muscipeta, Cuv.) ; those with 

 a narrower beak, to the muscicapa, Cuv. The 

 flycatcher of Lorraine (muscicapa atricapilla\ 

 which nidificates in the trunk of trees, presents 

 the same phenomenon as the cotingas. During 

 the winter the male is of an uniform grey, but 

 towards the pairing season a part of its plumage 

 becomes of a beautiful black, and the rest of a pure 



