SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 
819 
Curacao and other Caribbean islands 54( 176):60— 
123. 
Raffaele, H.. J. Wiley. O. Garrido. A. Keith, and J. 
Raffaele. 1998. A guide to the birds of the West Indies. 
Princeton University Press. Princeton. New Jersey, USA. 
Smith. P. W. and S. A. Smith. 1999. The breeding of 
Wilson's (Charadrius wilsonia ) and Collared (Char- 
adrius collaris ) plovers in the southern Lesser Antilles. 
El Pitirre 12:50-51. 
Stevenson. H. M. and B. H. Anderson. 1994. The birdlife 
of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 
USA. 
Tomkins, I. R. 1944. Wilson's Plover in its summer home. 
Auk 61:259-269. 
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(4):819-822. 2011 
Description of the Nest and Egg of an Atlantic Forest Endemic, the 
Black-headed Berryeater, Carpornis melanocephala (Cotingidae) 
Ricardo Belmonte-Lopes , 1 ' 2-5 Giovanni N. Mauricio , 3 and Marcos R. Bomschein 2,4 
ABSTRACT.—We describe the nest and egg of the 
Black-headed Berryeater (Carpornis melanocephala). 
an Atlantic Forest endemic considered vulnerable lo 
extinction. The nest was in a montane evergreen 
primary forest area in a tree fork 4.2 m above the 
ground. It was cup shaped and constructed mainly of 
leaves and stems, resembling a pile of aerial leal" litter. 
It held just one egg that was incubated solely by the 
female. The male was near the nest, and inspected it 
once while being observed. Received 19 January 2011. 
Accepted 4 June 20] I. 
The Cotingidae is one of the most emblematic 
bird families endemic to the Neotropics and. 
according to Remsen el al. (2011), includes 24 
genera and 58 species ranging from small 
understory to large canopy forms. The family 
presents great diversity of breeding systems with 
occurrence of lekking behavior, biparenlal care, or 
'Programa de Pos-Gradua^ao em Zoologia. Laboratrtrio 
* Dinamica Evolutiva c Sistemas Complexos. Dcparta- 
mcnln de Zoologia, Setor de Cicncias Biologicas. tJni- 
versidade Federal do Panina. Centro Politecnieo. Jardim das 
Americas. Caixa Postal 19020, CEP XI531 -980. Curitiba. 
Parana. Brazil. 
Mater Natura-Instituto de Esiudos Ambicntais. R. 
l-amenlia Lins. 1080. CEP 80250-020. Curitiba. Paranl 
Brazil, 
Orupo Especial de Estudn e Prote^ao do Ambiente 
Aquatico do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Tiradcntes. 2247. CEP 
^* *10-165. Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. 
‘Programa de Pos-Graduaqao cm Ecologia. Setor de 
C'^ncias Biologicas. Universidade Federal do Parana. 
Curitiba, Centro Politecnieo. Jardim das Americas. Caixa 
Postal 19031, CEP 81531-9X0. Curitiba. Parand, Brazil. 
Corresponding author: 
e-mail: rbelmonte.lopcs@gmail.com 
even family groups attending the brood. All 
known nests (except for Rupicola ) are open 
structures placed in trees and shrubs, many of 
which are extremely small and thin. Nest 
construction is characterized by interlocking twigs 
or tendrils from a few plant species (Snow 1982). 
However, knowledge of the breeding behavior of 
the family is scarce and nests of six genera remain 
unknown (Snow 2004b). 
Recent phylogenetic studies reveal the Cotingi¬ 
dae is composed of a basal group, the Pipreolinae. 
and two other large cladcs: the Coringinae, and 
another group which includes subfamilies Rupi- 
colinue and Phytotominac with the genus Car- 
pomis basal to both (Tello et al. 2009). The genus 
Carpornis comprises two endemic species in the 
Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Ridgely and Tudor 
1994). the Hooded Berryeater (C. cucullata ) and 
the Black-headed Berryeater (C. melanocephala). 
Little about their ecology and behavior has been 
described, and their nests are unknown (Snow 
2004b). 
The Black-headed Berryeater is considered to 
be threatened with extinction and has been listed 
as vulnerable (BirdLife International 2010); it 
occurs in Alagoas State and from southern Bahia 
to southern Parana (Snow 2004a). It inhabits 
humid forests, occurring from sea level up to 
700 m asl. generally where the Hooded Berryeater 
is absent (Collar et al. 1992, Snow 2004a). Our 
objective is to describe the nest and egg of the 
Black-headed Berryeater for the first time. 
METHODS 
We describe a nest and egg of the Black-headed 
Berryeater from the Serra das Lontras (15 09 46 
