276 CEA.CIDJE. 



median wattle ; the inner web of the primaries is excised at the extremity and the 

 plumage of the sexes is alike. 



This genus is strictly neotropical, fifteen species being recognized ; two of these are 

 found within our limits, the remaining thirteen being South American, 



1. Penelope purpurascens. 



Penelope purpurascens, Wagl. Isis, 1830, p. 1110'; 1831, p. 517 ="; Scl. P.Z.S. 1859, pp. 869', 

 391 ^ Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 61'; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 223'; P. Z. S. 1870, 

 pp. 522'; Salv. Ibis, 1861, p. 145'; Lawr. Mem. Best. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 306'; Bull. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 45"; Somichr. La Nat. ii. p. 37"; v. p. 229"; Boucard, P. Z. S. 

 1883, p. 459" ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 175 '*; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus. xxii. p. 496 '' ; Handb. Game-Bixds, p. 224 '°. 



Salpiza purpurascens, Wagl. Isis, 1832, p. 1226 ". 



Brunnescenti-oUvacea, aeneo-viridi adumbrata ; secundariis et supracandalibng pnrpurascentibus ; pfleo et 

 genis brunneis ; dorso postico et uropygio brunneis, £eneo tinctis ; corpore subtns bmnneo, coUi, inter- 

 scapulii et pectoris plumis lateraliter albo margiuatis : rostro nigro ; loris et regione oculari (cnm gtJa 

 snmma) nndis, violaceo-nigris ; gula ima coccinea; tarso coccineo; iride coceinea. Long, tota circa 34-6, 

 alae 15-0, caudse 14"6, tarsi 3'4. (Descr. maris adulti ex EetaUmleu. Mns. nostr.) 



2 mari similis. Ala 14-0. (Descr. feminae ex Tolcan de Fuego. iTus. nostr.) 



Ilab. Mexico {Wagler^^), Mazatlan [Bischoff''^, Grayson^), Sierra Madre above 

 Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas {Richardson ^^), Vera Cruz (Sumichrast^^), Jalapa 

 (Ferrari-Perez ^^, De Oca ^ ^), Santa Ana, Jalapa River (Ferrari-Perez ^^), Hacienda 

 de los Atlixcos (F. D. G. ^% Eio Grande *, Oaxaca ^ (Boucard), Villa Alta 

 (Trujillo ^^), Chimalapa (Richardson ^^), forests of both coasts ^^, Santa Efigenia, 

 Tehuantepec i** (Sumichrast), Tonila, Chiapas (Xantus "^ ^), Northern Yucatan, 

 forest of Yak-Jonat (Gaumer ^^) ; Guateiial.4 ^ i^, Eetalhuleu (Richardson ^^), 

 Pacific slope'', Eaxche, Vera Paz^^^ (0. S.), Savana Grande, Volcan de Fuego, 

 and Medio Monte (0. S. & F. D. G. ^^) ; Hondubas (Leyland ^, Byson 7). 



The Purple Penelope, though distributed over a wide area, is only met with in the 

 large forests, where it is locally abundant, and, like its allies, is strictly arboreal in 

 habits, feeding on fruit, or when this is scarce on leaves and buds. Sumichrast ^^ says 

 this species is known in the State of Vera Cruz as " Faisan griton " or " Cojolite " ; 

 the latter name is likewise used for it by the Spaniards in Northern Yucatan and 

 Guatemala, while in the Maya language it is called " Kosh " i^. d^^ Gaumer ^^ 

 found it abundant in the forest of Yak-Jonat. He says that on discovering a 

 tree laden with its favourite fruit it utters a loud cry, and in a moment from all 

 directions answers may be heard ; soon the tree is covered with birds, who havin? 

 stripped the fruit, fly away to return no more ; on two occasions he had the good 

 fortune to be beneath a tree when the birds were thus feeding. The first time he 

 counted eighty-four and on a second occasion fifty-one together, and of the latter 

 he succeeded in bringing down eight. The flesh is very good and highly esteemed 

 but the bones, like those of Or ax glohicera, are said to be poisonous to dogs. 



