Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
THE FREE-TOED PERCHING BIRDS
Manakin description
In an allied, brilliantly colored genus (Machceropterus) the males have the stems of the secondaries curiously thickened, while in Chiroxiphia it is the primaries that have thickened stems. As an example of the former we may mention M. pyrocephalus, which is brownish rose-color above, with the wings and sides of the head green, the crown bright yellow, crossed with a central stripe of scarlet, while beneath the color is pale rosy cinereous with darker longitudinal stripes. Of the habits of the Lance-tailed Manakin (C. lanceolata) of Margarita Island, Lieutenant Robinson gives the following account: “They were abundant in the heavy forests and usually kept near the watercourses. Their notes had a peculiar and bell-like quality to them, like the lower tones of our Wood Thrush, and it was especially difficult to judge the distance and direction of the singer. At times the notes appeared double, and as I repeatedly saw a pair of males perched on the same branch and almost in contact, they may have been singing together, although in perfect unison.”The nest and eggs of this species are described above.
As an example of a form in which the tail departs from the normal the genus Cirrhopipra may be selected. In the best-known species (C. filicauda) the outer tail-feathers are much lengthened and filiform in shape, the general plumage being velvety black, with the whole head and neck scarlet, with the exception of a yellow front, and the lower parts bright yellow.