The White-tailed Cotinga is distributed south of the Amazon from the west bank of the lower Tapajós to north Maranhão according to Ridgely & Tudor and the Handbook. If this is so, the first three photos, taken at Borba, Amazonas, document a range extension as far as the east bank of the lower rio Madeira.

The male is black with a dark purple tinge except for the tail and wings which are white. The feathers look very stiff and pointed. The iris is yellow. The female, seen in photo 3, looks quite like the female Pompadour Cotinga but has a mottled look to the breast.