Plate XV. 



RUPICOLA SAMUINOLENTA. 



(BLOOD-KED COCK-OF-THE-EOCK). 



Mupicola sanguinolenta 



Fupicola saturata 



Gould, P.Z.S. 1859, p. 99. 

 Sclater, P.Z.S. 1860, p. 91. 

 Sclater, Cat. A. B. p. 253. 

 Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. ii. p. 99. 



Saturate coccinea, crista unicolore : alis et cauda nigris ; secundariis tribus externis cinereis : rostro aurantiaco, 

 pedibus flavis : long, tota 120, alae 7*2, caudae 4 '4, tarsi 1*4. Fcem. obscure rufo-brunnea, dorso uropygiogue rufes- 

 centioribus, pileo brunnescentiore. 



Hab. in rep. iEquatoriali Transandeana, ISTanegal (Fraser). 



The first skins of this brilliantly coloured species brought to Europe were, we believe, those 

 collected by M. Jules Bourcier, during his consulateship in Ecuador, about the year 1850, but 

 the bird was not distinguished from its close ally, the Peruvian Cock-of-the-rock, until 1859, 

 when Mr. Gould pointed out its differential characters, in a communication made to the Zoological 

 Society. These are indeed but slight, consisting mainly in its slightly smaller size, and the 

 blood-red rather than orange-tinted plumage. But the latter is sufficiently striking to be 

 noticeable at first sight. 



Mr. L. Fraser obtained examples of this species in February 1859 at Nanegal, a village 

 on the western slope of Pichincha, about 4000 feet above the sea-level. We believe it to be 

 restricted to the western slope of the main range, representing in this district the Rupicola 

 'peruviana of the eastern face of the Andes. 



We have no account of the habits of this particular species in a state of nature, but they are 

 doubtless similar to those of the other known members of the group. Concerning these we may 

 refer our readers to Schomburgk's interesting notes on Rupicola crocea, as observed in the 

 Eoraima mountains of British Guiana,* and to Goudot's account of the nesting of R. peruviana, 

 in New Granada,f as the two most prominent articles on this subject. 



We subjoin some remarks upon the present state of our knowledge of the geographical 

 distribution of the three known species of Rupicola ; concerning which much additional 

 information is still required. 



R. crocea, the best known species of the genus, seems to be confined to the granitic plateau 

 of the interior of the three Guianas. Waterton gives a mountain on the river Oyapoc, in Cayenne, 



* Naumannia, Jahrg. 1850, p. 34. 



f Rev. Zool. 1843, p. 1, et Mag. de Zool., 1843, pi. 37. 



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