Vol. XX, pp. 55-56 April 18, 1907 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A NEW SPINY-TAIL FRO^NI THE SIERRA NEVADA DE 



SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



Dr. C. E. Hellmayr has lately called my attention to the fact 

 that the spiny-tail from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 

 Colombia, which other ornithologists and myself have been 

 calling Sipturnis antisiensis (Sclater) is not that species, but a 

 form quite different from it in many respects. 



Dr. Hellmayr 's comparison was made with the type of S. 

 antisiensis from Cuenca, south Ecuador, another specimen (d'ad.) 

 from Guayabamba, northern Peru, and one moulting specimen 

 in the British Museum, taken by Simons many years ago in the 

 Santa ISIarta region of Colombia. 



The four skins now in my collection bear out all the charac- 

 ters mentioned by Hellmayr, and the Santa Marta bird appears 

 to be a very distinct new species, wdiich I take pleasure in call- 

 ing after my indefatigable friend, — 



Siptornis hellmayri sp. nov. 



Type. — From El Paramo de Macotama, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 

 Colombia, altitude, 11,000 feet, No. 6184, d" adult, coll. of E. A. and 0. 

 Bangs. Collected February 1, 1899, by W. W. Brown, Jr. 



Characters. — Somewhat similar in general to S. antisiensis (Sol.) of soutli- 

 ern Ecuador and northern Peru, but distinguished at a glance in having 

 the crown from the base of the bill, distinctly striped with black (the 

 crown in .S'. antisiensis is uniform bright ferruginous, without a trace of 

 dusky striping) ; back much brighter, more fulvescent, less dull olive- 

 brown ; wing brighter, clear cinnamon-rufous ; superciliary streak narrower, 

 less conspicuous, and less purely white ; bill longer and more curved. 



Measurements. — Four adults from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta measure 

 respectively as follows : wing, 62.5, 65, 63, 62.5 ; tail, 64, 65, 60, 60.5; tarsus, 

 19.5, 20, 19.5, 20; culmen, 14, 15, 14, 13.5. 



11— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XX, 1907. (55) 



