CALLISTE INORNATA. 



THE PLAIN-COLOURED TANAGER. 



PLATE XLV. 



Calliste inornata Gould, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 158 (note). 



Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, p. 258 ; Syn. Av. Tan. 

 p. 84. 



Mas adultus ? Supra nigricanti-griseus : alis caudaque fusco- 

 nigris, tectricibus alarum minoribus turcoso-cseruleis : subtus 

 valde pallidior : abdomine toto cum crisso et tectricibus sub- 

 alaribus lactescenti-albis : rostro nigricanti-plumbeo : pedibus 

 nigris : long, tota 4*75, alse 2*5, caudse ]"75 poll. Angl. 



I have to thank Mr. Gould for the loan of the only example of the 

 present species of Calliste which has ever come under my notice, and 

 from which the accompanying figure has been made. It is the type 

 of the original description in a note to my list of birds received from 

 Bogota, published in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 

 the year 1855. Although I am not myself quite satisfied of its claims 

 to be considered as a good species, yet there is no known member 

 of the genus to which I can refer it, and for the present, therefore, 

 I place it by itself at the end of the others. Mr, Gould considers 

 it to be in adult plumage, and to be a plain-coloured member of 

 the section of the genus Calliste containing the Turquoise Tanagers 

 (C brasiliensis, Jlaviventris, &c.), for which I have suggested the 

 subgeneric term Euprepiste. It is certainly the fact that in many 

 groups of gaily-coloured birds, we find one or two species which are 

 remarkable for the plainness of their plumage in comparison with 

 their congeners. Thus among the brilliant black and crimson East 

 Indian Pericrocoti we find the dull and unpretending P. cinereus of 

 the Philippines. And in genera where the males and females are of 

 diiferent colours, there occasionally occur species where the males are 

 clothed in the normal dress of the females. So the male and female 

 of Pachyrhamphus rufescens are of a uniform brown — the ordinary 



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