( 220 ) 



ON A NEW SPECIES OF THAMNOPHILUS. 



By ERNST HARTERT. 

 (Plate IV.) 



COUNT BERLEPSCH called my attention to the differences of the males of 

 ii Tlifimiiophilus from the Andes of Veneziu'lii, resembling lit. doliafus. 

 In examining the specimens sent to the Tring Musenm by Mr. Salomon Briceno 

 Gabaldon of Merida, from the Sabanetas de Estangues, abont 800 metres above 

 the sea, I find that they differ considerably from rhamii.ojjluliis doUatus, to which 

 they are most nearly related by the large white patch on the crown. 1 name this 

 new s])ecies, in honour of the active collector, 



Thamnophilus bricenoi sp. nov. 



It differs from Th. tloUatiis in the following jioints : — 



It is much more black on the entire under surface, the black bars being con- 

 siderably wider than the white ones, while in Th. doliatus they are narrower or 

 equal. This character is especially developed on the under tail-coverts, but evident 

 everywhere. Sides of head and ear-coverts much more black. The white spots and 

 cross-bars on the tail are less numerous, the white bars on the wings narrower. The 

 white patch on the crown seems to be a little smaller, but this character is 

 variable. Wing 76 — 78 mm.; tail 61 — 63 mm.; tarsus 'iA-b — 25-5 mm. 



The plate represents the type-specimen together with a mule, of Tli. doliatus 

 from Cayenne. It is a collotype reproduction of a photograph by Mr. S. G. Payne 

 of Aylesbury, and shows the differences of the two forms very well. 



I do not know tho f('7>iale of T/i. bricP7toi. I am not, at present, able to discuss 

 the question of the status of the Central American forms of Th. doliatus, which 

 have been separated as 'Th. (tlfini.i by Cabanis & Heine (type from Mexico), and 

 as Thamnophilu)< iiiteriiii'd'nis by Ridgway ftype from Honduras). Both these forms 

 have been united with Th. doliatus by Sclater {Cat. B. Brit. Mas. XV. p. 207) 

 and Salvin (in Biol. Central Amer. II.), and they seem indeed to l)e very closely 

 allied to typical Th. doliatus, and are not specifically different, though they mav 

 jwssibly be subspecific forms of it. It is doubtful wiiether there really is a distinct 

 break in the distribution of Th. doliatus, as Dr. Sclater (t.c. p. 208) supposes. 

 Typical Th. doliatus extends throughout the lowlands along the northern coast of 

 Venezuela to the Zulia jdain, and the northern jiart of Colombia is liardly sufficiently 

 known to sav that it does not exist there. 



