508 CLASS AVES. 



The Gymnocephalus is about the size of a crow, and is 

 remarkable for nothing so much as its naked head, and neck 

 not much furnished with feathers. Our author, finding an 

 analogy between its bill and that of the tyrants, has placed it at 

 the end of the flycatchers; but M. Le Vaillant considers it as 

 belonging essentially to the cotingas, by its bill, feet, and 

 identity of habits. The amplitude of its wings has been con- 

 sidered a distinctive character from the cotingas. This M. L. 

 says, is only apparent, arising from the shortness of the tail. 

 Illiger has also placed it in the genus ampelis; but, says 

 ]M. Dumont, if the head is feathered in early life, (which M. 

 Le Vaillant himself affirms;) if the nostrils are then covered like 

 those of the great cotinga, to which this naturalist approxi- 

 mates it; and if the nudity of the head in age be owing to 

 some peculiar habit and circumstances, resembling those which 

 produce a similar despoliation in crows, it may be necessary to 

 remove it from the cotingas, to which, moreover, its mode of 

 subsistence is not very conformable. 



The Jaseurs are classed by Latham and Gmelin with the 

 cotingas of Brisson. M. Vieillot makes a distinct genus of 

 them, and they form a sub-genus of the cotingas in the ' Regne 

 Animal.' 



Of the two species, with which we are acquainted, one in- 

 habits Europe, the other America ; they are erratic birds, and 

 travel in numerous flocks, but remain in pairs only during 

 hatching-time. They are so extremely fond of the society of 

 their own species, that from the moment the young can provide 

 for themselves, all those in the same district unite and form 

 very considerable flights. They are baccivorous birds; all 

 kinds of berries suit them, but they prefer soft fruits full of 

 juice. When such food is rare, they live on insects. They 

 will take flies on the wing with as much address as the fly- 

 catchers. The American species nestles on trees ; the hatch 

 consists of four or five eggs ; they lay usually twice a year. 

 The mode of propagation in the European species is unknown. 



