THE PLANT CUTTERS. igh 
indeed,” continues Mr. Vigors, “with which family Platyrynchus is now 
united, have a decided affinity to the last tribe, or the birds which feed 
upon the wing, in their broad-based bills, the vibrisse that surround them, 
and their similar habits of darting upon their prey while on the wing.” 
Famiry Pieripe. THe MAnankins. 
Mr. Swainson regards the Piprid, or, as he calls them, Péprinc, as a 
sub-family of the Ampelidw, from which they differ in the slenderness of the 
feet, shortness of the beak, and curvature of the upper mandible; most are 
of small size, and clothed in plumage of the richest tints of crimson, or- 
ange, yellow, blue, green, and black. The warmer regions of America are 
their strongholds, but not their exclusive habitat. According to Mr. Swain- 
son, the Manakins “chiefly occur in the deep virgin forests of the tropics, 
but are much more social than the Cotingas. They live in little bands ; are 
continually in motion, and feed almost entirely on the large, soft berries of 
the different species of Melastoma,; the nest of one species, Pipra pareola, 
is often built in the fork of a shrub, in such an exposed manner, that the 
female can look all round, and watch the approach of danger. We found one 
in such a situation in the forest of Pétanga, a single leaf of a large pepper 
plant (Piper) forming a kind of umbrella shade over the female, which 
was sitting, and did not rise from her nest as we passed onwards.” 
Famity Puytroromip%. Tue Puant Curtrers. 
Some ornithologists place the Plant Cutters, the Colies, the Touwracos, and 
the Plantain-eaters under one family head, of which they constitute so many 
distinct tribes. We are inclined, however, to regard them as the types of 
distinct forms, that is, constituting so many family sections.” 
Of these birds the Chilian Plant Cutter (Phytotoma rara) is one of the 
best known. 
To Molina we are principally indebted for our knowledge of the habits of 
this bird, which, from the depredations it commits, is subject to incessant 
persecution. It feeds on plants of the most tender nature, cutting them off 
close to the roots; and not content with merely satisfying its appetite, it 
has the most destructive habit of cropping close a quantity of them without 
touching them further, thus injuring the fields of rising grain, while the 
blade is peeping above the surface. 
The Chilian Plant Cutter builds its nest on the most lofty trees, in obscure 
and but little frequented spots, and, consequently, generally rears its young 
brood in safety, notwithstanding the reward which Molina says is (or in his 
time was) given to children and other persons who destroy the eggs. 
