SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 
821 
FIG. 2. Nest and egg of the Black-headed Berryeater (Carpomis melanocephala). Photograph by RB-L. 
incubation chamber had a diameter of 62.8 X 
87.9 mm and was 41.1 mm deep. 
The nest was mainly composed of dry leaves 
(whole leaves and fragments); most of the leaves 
were presumed to be from the same tree species in 
which the nest was attached. The outer walls of 
•he nest were supported by dry stems with 
diameters between 5.0 and 5.8 mm. and other 
brnmeliad leaves. The nest was lined with dry 
leaves and several thin stems (diam ^0,9 mm). 
The nest had only one egg measuring 33.2 x 
23.5 mm (Fig. 2). The egg’s background color 
was Pale Horn (92) with small spots and stripes of 
Verona Brown (223B); the larger end was 
uniformly colored Grayish Horn (91). 
DISCUSSION 
Our observations of the female and male 
attending the nest suggest the Black-headed 
Berryeater has biparental care of nestlings, as also 
•’■•ported for the colingid genera Pipreolu (Pipreo* 
linae), Phytotoma, and Zaratornis (Phytotominae). 
a »d Coninptilon (Cotinginue) (Snow 1982. 2004b; 
Gdis ei al. 2006; Rosina and Romo 2010). These 
?unera (with exception of Coninptilon) are basal in 
•be Colingidae phylogeny (Tello et al. 2009) and it 
' s possible that biparental care represents an 
ancestral characteristic in the family. 
Inconspicuousness is an obvious way to avoid 
nest predation and, since many Cotingidae nests 
are very small, it is hypothesized these structures 
evolved under predation pressures (Snow 1982). 
The nest of the Black-headed Berryeater is 
another example of adaptation to these pressures. 
It is inconspicuous, not because of its size but. due 
to its external appearance, which reassembles a 
pile of aerial leaf litter. 
The nest could he described as 'cup shaped’ 
attached as ‘top lip’ (following Hansell 2000), or as 
‘low cup’ attached as ‘fork’ (following Simon and 
Pacheco 2005). The nest of the Black-headed 
Berryeater was constructed using the ‘piling up’ 
and ‘interlocking’ techniques (following Hansell 
2000). The technique of ‘interlocking’ is divided 
into four different methods of construction (Han¬ 
sell 2000) from which the Black-headed Berryeater 
used ‘entangle’ (in which the bird shapes the 
materials to bind together) and ‘velcro’ methods 
(which uses animal silk to lix the nest to 
vegetation). The use of the ‘entangle* is known in 
the Cotingidae (Snow 1982). but the use of ‘velcro’ 
has not been reported before in the family, 
requiring confirmation by direct observations. 
Collar et al. (1992) reported specimens of the 
Black-headed Berryeater with gonads half or little 
enlarged in June (n = 1, female). November (n = 
1. male), and December (n = 2. males) and others 
with no enlarged gonads in June and December (2 
