Plate LXXXVI. 



AMPELION APtCUATUS. 



(BANDED COTINGA). 



Ampelis arcwatus 

 PyrrliorJiynchus arcuatus 

 Ampelion arcuatus 

 Ampelio arcuatus 



Viridis, capite et gutture toto nigris 



Lafr. Eev. Zool. 1843, p. 98. 

 • Bp. Consp. p. 177. 



Scl. P.Z.S. 1855, p. 152, 1858, p. 553 et 1860, p. 89. 

 ■'Scl:^Cat. Am. B. p. 255. . ;, 



alis caudaque nigris extus viridi partimlimbatis ; tectricibus majoribuB et 

 secondariis in pogoniis externis flavido maculatis, borum necnon caudse rectricum apicibus albo anguste terminatis : 

 subttis flavus, nigro regulariter transfasciatus : rostro rubro, pedibus aurantiacis : long, tota 9*3, ala9 4*5, caudse 3 5, 

 tarsi 1"1. Fern. Mari similis, sed capite viridi, gula parce nigro traus-liueata. 

 Hab. in montibus Novae Granadise et reipubl. .3£quatorialis. 



The late Baron de Lafresnay first described tliis fine species of Cotinga in one of his papers 

 on new American birds published in the " Eevue Zoologique." The locality there given to it is 

 New Grenada. It is not, however, of very frequent occurrence in Bogota collections, but few 

 specimens having come under our examination in the many thousands of bird-skins we have 

 seen from this district. 



In his journey to Western Ecuador in 1858-60 Mr. Fraser met with this bird in two 

 localities — at Matos on the plateau of Eiobamba, and above Puellaro, a village on the Eio 

 Perucho north of Quito, where his collecting-ground was about 8000 feet above the sea-level. 

 Mr. Fraser states that the stomachs of specimens examined contained fruit, and that the bird 

 frequents the trees on the mountain-tops and has a sweet note. He describes the irides as 

 " grayish," or "light-hazel," the legs and feet " deep orange," and the bill " red." 



This Cotinga belongs to the sti-ongly-formed green group allied to Pipreola which 

 Dr. Cabanis has called Ampelion* and subsequently Ampelio.'\ Its nearest ally seems to be 

 Ampelion melanocepJialus, figured in Swainson's "Zoological Illustrations" (sei'ies i. t. 25), 

 but it is immediately recognizable by its red bill and distinctly barred under-surface — in the 

 former point approaching more nearly to the genus Pipreola. - 



Our figures of this species are taken from specimens in Sclater's collection< The 'male is a 

 " Bogota" skin, and the female one of Fraser's examples, killed at Matos. 



* Tschudi'a Faun. Per. Aves, p. 137. f Mus. Heiu. ii, p. 104. 



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