BIRDS OF NOETH AND MIDDLE AMEEICA. 35 



Chalcothraupis Bonaparte, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., iii, Mar., 1851, 144. (Type, 



Tanagra {Aglaia) labradorides Lafresnaye.) 

 Euschemon Sclatek, Jardine's Contr. Orn., 1851, 95. (Type, Tanagra flava 



Gmelin. ) 

 Euprepiste Sclater, Jardine's Contr. Orn., 1851, 95. (Type, Tanagra hrasUiensis 



Linnaeus. ) 



Small, very brilliantly colored Tanagers with the bill shorter than 

 middle toe without claw, the tarsus decidedly longer than middle toe 

 with claw and more than one-third as long as tail; if not brillianth' 

 colored in adult plumage, the lesser wing-coverts glossy bright blue. 



Bill small (exposed culmen about half as long as tarsus, sometimes 

 a little more or less), varying from rather stout, with decidedly curved 

 culmen and basal depth equal to basal width (equal also to length of 

 gonys), to rather slender, with culmen nearly straight and basal depth 

 much less than basal width or than length of gonys; commissure nearly 

 straight, the maxillary tomium more or less distinctly notched near 

 tip; gonys nearly (sometimes quite) equal to length of maxilla from 

 nostril, slightly convex, and decidedly ascending terminally, the tip 

 of the mandible acute. Nostril partly (sometimes almost entirely) 

 concealed by frontal plumules — rarely fully exposed — nearly circular, 

 in lower anterior portion of nasal fossse. Rictal bristles minute, often 

 obsolete. Wing long (about three and one-third to four and one-fourth 

 times as long as tarsus), pointed (ninth to sixth or eighth to sixth 

 primaries longest, ths ninth usually longer, rarely shorter, than fifth) ; 

 primaries exceeding secondaries by nearly (sometimes quite) the 

 length of the tarsus. Tail shorter than wing by length of tarsus or 

 (usually) more, usually more or less emarginate, sometimes even, the 

 rectrices rather narrow, with firm webs and rounded tips. Tarsus 

 decidedly (sometimes very much) longer than middle toe with claw; 

 lateral claws reaching about to base of middle claw or slightly beyond; 

 hind claw decidedly shorter than its digit. 



Coloration. — Usually extremely brilliant and varied, in many cases 

 beyond any other known birds, thus fully entitling the genus to the 

 name by which it has usually been known {CalMste, i. e., most beauti- 

 ful), but which unfortunately can not be retained. Only one of the 

 sixty-odd species is plainly attired, this (well named C. inornata) 

 being plain gray (paler below), with lesser wing-coverts bright glossy 

 blue. The sexes are usually alike in color, or nearly so, but the young 

 are quite different, being very plain, never streaked. 



Range.— Tropical America, from southern Mexico to southern 

 Brazil and Peru. Wanting from the West Indies, except in St. 

 Vincent and Grenada. 



Although very marked variations in the shape of the bill and in 

 other details of external structure occur among the numerous species 

 of this genus, I am unable to subdivide it into groups with definite 



