PIPEITBS. 107 



Pam. PIPRID-ffil*. 



Subfam. PIPBINJE. 



PIPRITES. 



Pi^jn^es, Cabanis, in Wiegm. Arch. f. Naturg. xiii. pt. i. p. 234 (1847) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 



xiv. p. 283. 

 HemipipO) Cab. 1. s. c. 



Piprites is a small genus containing five species, found in the mountainous parts 

 of South America, one species occurring in Costa Eica, having near allies in Guiana, 

 the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, and in South-eastern Brazil. The genus, as now 

 understood, comprises both Piprites and Ilemipipo of Cabanis. The former contains 

 P. pileatus alone ; the latter the other four species including P. griseiceps of Costa Rica. 

 In general structure there seem to be insufficient grounds for separating the two groups, 

 the diiference resting almost entirely on the coloration of the plumage. Unlike the 

 general rule in the Piprinse, the sexes are similarly clothed. The bill in P. griseiceps is 

 strong, wide at the base, and with a very distinct notch near the end of the tomia of the 

 maxilla ; the nostrils are large, and open at the end of the nasal fossa, and overhung 

 by the setose supra-nasal feathers ; the rictal bristles are strong. The second, third, 

 and fourth primaries are subequal, the first < fifth. The tail is rounded ; the tarsi 

 and toes slender, the outer toe a little longer than the inner. 



1. Piprites griseiceps. (Tab. XLI. fig. 3>) 



Piprites griseiceps, Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 583 ' ; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 116 ^; Pelz. & Madar. 

 Mon. Pipridae^ pt. i. p. 9, t. 3. fig. 2'; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiy. p. 385 \ 



* The Pipridse is a purely neotropical family containing about seventy species, -whicli are distributed over 

 the hotter forest-clad parts of South America, from Paraguay northwards, and through Central America to the 

 middle of the Mexican State of Vera Cruz. Thirteen species only occur within our limits, belonging to five of 

 the nineteen genera into which the family has been divided. Mr. Selater, in his recent Catalogue (Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 282), divides the family into two subfamilies — Piprinae and Ptilochlorinse. The former, 

 represented in our country by the genera Piprites, Pipra, ChiroadpMa, and Ghiromachcerisjhe distinguishes by 

 the bill being short and wide at the base, the m axilla hardly notched near the tip, the rictal bristles feebly 

 developed, and the general contrast between the sexes as regards the coloration of their plumage, the males in 

 most cases being brightly clad. The latter subfamily is represented by Heferopelma alone, in which the above 

 characters are reversed. The Pipridsa as well as the Cotingidse have the toes united at the base, but the tarsi are 

 differently covered. The divisions of the Pipridse as thus defined will have to be reconsidered at some future 

 time, for the contrast between such birds as Piprites and Metopothrix is so great that they cannot well remain 

 under the common definition assigned to them. In Piprites the bill is short, wide at the base, the subterminal 

 notch quite distinct, and the rictal bristles well developed. In Metopothrix the bill is long and narrow, the 

 tomia of the maxilla is destitute of a notch, and there are no traces of rictal bristles. We can only here 

 indicate these discrepancies, and leave the reconstruction of the classification of these complex families to a 

 future monographer. 



14* 



