PHCENlOOCERCtJS. 



291 



the male, the short bill, and Lhe peculiar wing formula. Female 

 much less bright. 



538. Phoenicocercus carnifex. 



Red Chatteeek. 



Ampelis carnifex Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 298, 1766 (Surinam). 

 JPhcenicocercus carnifex Cab. in Schomb. Reis. Guian. iii. p. 695, 1848 ; 



Brown, Canoe and Camp Life in British Guiana, p. 40, 1876 (Puruni 



Eiver) ; Salvin, Ibis, , 1885, p. 304 (Bartica Grove, Camacusa) ; 



Sclater, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 367, 1888 (Demerara) ; Brabourne 



& Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 320, no. 3267, 1912. 



Adult male. Crown of head bright red ; lores, a ring of short 

 feathers round the eye, nape, hind-neck, and upper back black ; 

 upper wing-coverts chestnut-brown, with dark margins to the 

 feathers ; innermost secondaries also chestnut-brown ; bastard- 

 wing, primary-coverts, and flight-quills dark brown, with white 

 margins to the inner webs of the primaries and pale rufous to those 

 of the secondaries, with chestnut-brown edges to the outer webs 

 of the latter ; tips of tail-feathers ruddy brown ; rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, tail^ abdomen, flanks, and under tail-coverts bright 

 scarlet-red ; throat umber-brown ; ear-coverts and breast dark 

 maroon ; under wing-coverts cinnamon-rufous ; flight-quills 

 below pale brown with paler edgings ; lower aspect of tail- 

 feathers bright pink, darker at the tips. 



Total length 201 mm., exposed culmen 23, wing 92, tail 73, 

 tarsus 26. 



The specimen described was collected on the Ituribisi River in 

 October 1908. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in being olive-green 

 above, crown of head and tail dull brick-red, throat olive-green 

 tinged with red, middle of abdomen and under tail-coverts in- 

 clining to pink, breast and sides of abdomen red, axillaries and 

 under wing-coverts pale yellow, and the lower aspect of the tail 

 slighly tinged with dull red. Wing 109 mm. 



The female from which the description is taken was collected 

 on the Ituribisi River in 1909. 



The young male assumes the plumage of the female on the 

 upper surface, but is brighter and more uniform red on the lower 

 parts, and the axillaries and upper wing-coverts inclining to orange- 

 colour, 



U2 



