The TIJE (_Pipra-Chiroxiphia-pareola_) is the species we have selected
to represent a group possessing tails that are quite straight at the
extremity. The body of the male is principally of a coal-black, the back
alone being sky-blue, whilst the head is adorned with a magnificent
blood-red fork-shaped tuft or crest. The plumage of the female is
entirely siskin-green, without markings of any kind. Both sexes have
greyish brown eyes, black beaks, and yellowish red feet. The length of
this bird is four inches and two-thirds, and the breadth nine inches and
six lines.
The Tije is met with very extensively in a northerly direction, from
Bahia as far as Guiana, where it inhabits the forests and woodland
districts, subsisting exclusively upon fruit and berries. Schomburghk
describes the nests he found as formed of moss and cotton wool. They
contained but two eggs. Incubation, he tells us, takes place in April and
May. The call-note of the Tije is monotonous and loud.