Genus PIPEI80MA. 
Bill very short and wide at the base, triangular when viewed from above, compressed 
suddenly beyond the nostrils ; culmen keeled and compressed between the nostrils, below -which 
the margin is inflated ; gonys very deep, ascending and keeled near the tip. Nostrils very small. 
Wings long ; the 1st quill equal to or slightly less than the 2nd and 3rd, which are the longest ; 
4th equal to the 1st. Tail short, even at the tip, not exceeding the closed wing by more than 
the length of the middle toe. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw ; toes rather slender, 
hind toe moderately long ; claws stout and well curved. 
PIPEISOMA AGILE. 
(THE THICK-BILLED FLOWEKPECKER.) 
Fringilla agilis, Tickell, J. A. S. B. 1833, ii. p. 578. 
Pipra sgualida, Burton, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 113. 
Piprisoma agile, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1844, xiii. p. 314; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 228 
(1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 262 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 376 
(1863) ; Beavan, Ibis, 1865, p. 416 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 365 ; Beavan, ibid. 1867, 
p. 430, pi. X. ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 18 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 434 ; Hume, Nests 
and Eggs, p. 158 (1873) ; id. Str. Feath. 1873, p. 434 ; Ball, ibid. 1874, p. 397, et 1878, 
vii. p. 209. 
Chitlu-jilta, Telugu (Jerdon). 
Adult 'male and female. Length 3'9 to 4‘0 inches ; wing 2-15 to 2’3 ; tail 1‘1 ; tarsus 0'48 ; middle toe and claw 0'4 
to 0'45 ; bill to gape 0‘4. 
Iris orange, with an inner golden circle ; bill plumbeous brown, low^er mandible bluish ; legs and feet plumbeous. 
Above ohvaceous brown, greenish on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and with the margins of the wings and tail the 
same ; centres of the feathers on the forehead shghtly darter than the margins ; wings brown ; tail blackish brown, 
narrowly tipped with white on all but the two outer tail-feathers, which have a terminal white spot ; lores greyish ; 
face and ear-coverts brownish ; a rim of minute pale feathers on the eyelid ; fore neck and under surface white. 
In Lesson’s ‘ Century of Zoology ’ is figured (pi. 26) a very remarkable httle bird, said to have been procured by 
a Dr. Reynard at Trincomalie, and named by Lesson Prionoehilus pijira. The engra^ving certainly represents a bird 
belonging to this group of Elowerpeckers ; but whether it is Pijirisoma, Pachyglossa, or Prionoehilus it is impossible to 
say. Lesson’s description of this rara avis is in French, and could not be better translated than it has been by Blyth 
(notes on Ceylon ornithology, ‘ Ibis,’ 1807, p- 306). I accordingly give it verbatim for the benefit of my readers 
“ Tipper parts brownish ashy ; the w ings and tail brown, with a russet tuige ; throat and front of the neck rust-coloured : 
the rest of the lower parts brown, rayed (the feathers tipped in the figure) with whitish ; vent and lower tail-coverts 
russet ; axillary tufts hrilliant violet ; bill and tarsi black, the low'er mandible whitish beneath. Length about 4 inches, 
the closed wing 2'25.” The date given by the author for the publication of this note is April 1830. From that day to 
this the bird has never been heard of ; and the extraordinary character of its plumage, exemplified in its possessing, in 
combination with an otherwise sombre dress, two brilliant axillary tufts like those of a Sun-bird, almost suggests the idea 
of a made-up bird ! 
The following is M. Lesson’s note on the species : — “ M. le Docteur Reynard a decouvort cet oiseau a Trinquemahe 
sur la cote de Ceylon. Ses moeurs sont inconnues, et ses earactcres mixtes porteraient sans doute h, en faire un petit 
genre intermediaire a ces des Pardalotus et des Pipra, si le genre Pardalote u’etait pas lui-meme pen caracterise.” 
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