141 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Schomburgk also remarks (Reis. Guian. i. p. 440) : — This 

 species looked at us with its neck fully out-stretched but quickly 

 flew away ; it looked most beautiful in the sunshine, when it 

 spread its w^ngs and tail out like a turkey-cock. Its food consists 

 o£ flies and insects only and is so agile that it seldom misses its 

 prey ; if it discovers a fly on a plant it will at once most care- 

 fully stalk it with its neck draw'n in and when wdthin reach dart 

 its head out, and the fly is caught. 



Family PSOPHIID^. 



This famil}' is composed of one genus and six species, and is 

 confined to the South-American continent. They are soft- 

 plumaged birds, with rounded bodies, loi^g l^gs, and small feet. 



Genus PSOPHIA Linn. 



P6'o/)7hV/ Linne, Syst. Nat. 10th ed. i. p. 154, 1758. Type P. crepHans 

 Linn. 



This genus has no near ally, but can always be distinguished by 

 its small head and bill, soft plumage, short toes, and long legs. 



91. Psophia crepitans. 



Common Trumpeter. 



Fsopltin crepitans, Linn. Svst. Nat. i. p. 154, 175S (''Habitat in America 

 uieridionali ") ; Cab. in Schomb. Keis. Guian. iii. p. 751, 1848; 

 Salvin, Ibis, 1886, p. 177 (Camacusa, River Atapurow) ; W. L. 

 Sclater, Ibis, 1887, p. 317 (Maccasseema) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. 

 Mus. xxiii. p. 279, 1894 (Takutu River) ; Lloyd, Timehri (2) xi. 

 p. 3, 1892 (nesting notes) ; Beebe, Our Search for a Wiklerness, 

 p. 255, 1910 (Matope), p. 330 (Aremu) ; Bi-abourne & Chubb, B. S. 

 Amer. i. p. 46, no. 436, 1912. 



" Warracaba" (C. A. Lloi/d). 



Adult male. Head," neck, mantle, wings, lower back, tail, and 

 entire under surface deep black ; the feathers on the head and neck 

 are short and down-like, those on the fore-neck are narrowly banded 

 with green and broadly ti})ped with metallic purple ; the feathers 

 on the back and some of the U})i)er wing-coverts tij)ped with 

 umber-brown ; the inner greater wing-coveits and innermost 



