Norwich Castle Museum. go | 
Section ‘‘B” of the sub-order PASSERIES, Mesom- 
yodi, is a much less numerous one than the preceding ; 
it contains twelve families, all but three peculiar to 
the New World, the first of which, TyraNNIDA, is 
far the largest, comprising over 400 species, most 
of them confined to South America. Cydernetes 1s a 
striking genus containing only one species, C. yetapa, 
which inhabits S. E. Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and the 
northern part of La Plata; it is conspicuous for its 
long forked tail. Of the typical genus Zyranunus, 
the Pipiri 7: gvzsews may be taken as an example; it 
is found in North and Central America, Ecuador, and 
Peru. The Manakins, Pirripé, a brilliant family of 
South American birds of small size, may be represented 
by /ipra aureola; its prevailing colour is red, the 
back, wings, and tail being black and the throat yellow. 
Near to this is the lovely Cock-of-the-Rock, Aupzcola 
crocea, with its soft orange-red plumage and curiously 
helmeted head. ‘The Chatterers follow, two of which, 
Cotinga cometa and C. cerulia, are beautiful birds, 
and the like may also be said of the genus Xzpholena. 
A large richly-coloured bird, with brown back and tail, 
Hlematoderus militaris, is sure to attract attention, and 
the same may be said of Querula cruenta ; in fact, nature 
has been lavish in the bestowal of lovely tints on these 
beautiful South American birds. A singular bird is 
Gymnocephalus calvus, a native of Demerara, a bare- 
headed crow-like individual of a reddish-brown colour 
with dark wings. A large white bird near by is equally 
noteworthy, if only from contrast with its brightly- 
coloured surroundings ; it is known as Chasmorhynchus 
nudicollis, and has a singular bare patch of skin on the 
throat; but there is another snow-white bird of the 
same genus C. zzveus, of which one specimen will be 
found in the wall case, and two others under a bell 
glass on one of the tables. This is the South American 
