136 COTINGlDiE. 



separate the Eupicolinge and Cotinginse from the Lipauginae and Attilinse, but we doubt 

 if their supposed absence or presence will eventually prove of much use in the classifi- 

 cation of these groups. In Cotinga the bristles are small, and in Carpodecfes they 

 appear to be wholly wanting ; but in all the other genera they can be traced without 

 much diflaculty. Their development, of course, is not nearly so advanced as in Aftila 

 and Lvpaugus, but still they can be seen. 



The Cotinginge had therefore better for the present be defined as Cotingidae in which 

 the rictal bristles are absent or small. This will bring Chasmorhynchus into the Cotin- 

 ginse and remove it from the Querulinse, in which the rictal bristles are very strong. 



COTINGA. 



Cotinga, Brisson, Om. ii. p. 339 (1760) ; Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 382. 



Cotinga contains eight species which are spread over the tropical portions of the 

 Neotropical Eegion from the forests of the southern parts of the Mexican State of Vera 

 Cruz to South-eastern Brazil. Two allied species are found within our region — one, 

 C. amahilis, extending from Southern Mexico to Eastern Costa Eica; the other, 

 C. ridgwayi, occurring in Western Costa Rica and the State of Panama. 



The bill in C. amahilis is short, wide at the base, and converging in concave lines to 

 the tip ; the culmen is gradually curved from the base, a little more abruptly towards 

 the tip, and there is a small subterminal notch on the tomia of the maxilla ; the nostrils 

 are open and fully exposed, the short thick-set frontal and supra-nasal feathers not 

 extending to the proximal end of the opening. The rictal bristles are small ; the tarsi 

 are short, and the outer and middle toes are but slightly united at the base. 



The differences in the comparative lengths and form of the primaries in Cotinga are 

 most remarkable. In C. amahilis the second primary is the longest, the first longer 

 than the third, the fourth shorter than the fifth ; none of them are much reduced in 

 width, and the ends are rounded. 



In C. ridgwayi the fourth is the longest, the third and fifth are equal, the first=the 

 sixth, the second a little longer than the first. Both first and second are reduced in 

 width, the second more than the first, and it is moreover slightly curved inwards towards 

 the tip. The two species are thus quite difierent as regards the form of the wing. 



Of the other species of Cotinga, C. ccerulea and C. cincta resemble C. amahilis in 

 having a shortened fourth primary, but the first three are all more pointed. C. cayana 

 has a fourth primary as long as the third, and the first and second are pointed, the third 

 being normal. C. maynana has the third primary a trifle shorter than the second and 

 fourth, and both it and the first are narrower towards the tip than the second. The 

 wing of C. nattereri is a slight modification of that of C. ridgwayi. 



C. porphyroloema has a normal wing, none of the feathers being shortened out of 

 order or attenuated. 



