Genus PIPEISOMA. 

 Bill very short and wide at the base, triangular when viewed from above, compressed 

 suddenly beyond the nostrils ; culmen keeled and compressed between the nostrils, below which 

 the margin is inflated ; gonys very deep, ascending and keeled near the tip. Nostrils very small. 

 Wings long ; the 1st quill equal to or slightly less than the 2nd and 3rd, which are the longest ; 

 4th equal to the 1st. Tail short, even at the tip, not exceeding the closed wing by more than 

 the length of the middle toe. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw ; toes rather slender, 

 hind toe moderately long ; claws stout and well curved. 



PIPEISOMA AGILE. 



(THE THICK-BILLED FLOWERPECKER.) 



Fnngilla agilis, Tickell, J. A. S. B. 1833, ii. p. 578. 



Pipra squalida, Burton, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 113. 



Piprisoma agile, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1844, xiii. p. 314; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 228 

 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 262 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 376 

 (1863); Beavan, Ibis, 1865, p. 416; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 365 ; Beavan, ibid. 1867, 

 p. 430, pi. x. ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 18 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 434 ; Hume, Nests 

 and Eggs, p. 158 (1873) ; id. Str. Feath. 1873, p. 434 ; Ball, ibid. 1874, p. 397, etl878, 

 vii. p. 209. 



Chitln-jilta, Telugu (Jerdon). 



Adult male and female. Length 3 - 9 to 4-0 inches ; wing 2-15 to 2'3 ; tail 1-1 ; tarsus 0-48 ; middle toe and claw 0-4 

 to 0-45 ; bill to gape 0-4. 



Iris orange, with an inner golden circle ; bill plumbeous brown, lower mandible bluish ; legs and feet plumbeous. 



Above olivaceous brown, greenish on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and with the margins of the wings and tail the 

 same ; centres of the feathers on the forehead slightly darker than the margins ; wings brown ; tail blackish brown, 

 narrowly tipped with white on all but the two outer tail-feathers, which have a terminal white spot ; lores greyish : 

 face and ear-coverts brownish ; a rim of minute pale feathers on the eyelid ; fore neck and under surface white. 



In Lesson's ' Century of Zoology ' is figured (pi. 26) a very remarkable little bird, said to have been procured bv 

 a Dr. Reynard at Trincomalie, and named by Lesson Prionoehilus pipra. The engraving certainly represents a bird 

 belonging to this group of Flowerpeckers ; but whether it is Piprisoma, Pachyglossa, or Prionoehilus it is impossible to 

 say. Lesson's description of this rara avis is in French, and could not be better translated than it has been by Blyth 

 (notes on Ceylon ornithology, ' Ibis,' 1S67, p. 306). I accordingly give it verbatim for the benefit of my readers : — 

 " Upper parts brownish ashy ; the wings and tail brown, with a russet tinge ; throat and front of the neck rust-coloured ; 

 the rest of the lower parts brown, rayed (the feathers tipped in the figure) with whitish ; vent and lower tail-coverts 

 russet ; axillary tufts brilliant violet ; bill and tarsi black, the lower mandible whitish beneath. Length about 4 inches, 

 the closed wing 2-25." The date given by the author for the publication of this note is April 1830. From that day to 

 this the bird has never been heard of; and the extraordinary character of its plumage, exemplified in its possessing, in 

 combination with an otherwise sombre dress, two brilliant axillary tufts like those of a Sim-bird, almost suggests the idea 

 of a made-up bird ! 



The following is M. Lesson's note on the species : — " M. le Docteur Reynard a dc'couvert cet oiseau ii Trinquemalic 

 sur la cote de Ceylon. Ses mceurs sont inconnues, et ses caractores mixtes porteraient sans doute a en faire tin petit 

 genre intermediaire a ces des Pardalotus et des Pipra, si le genre Pardalote n'etait pas lui-meme peu caracte'rise." 



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