Vol. XVIII, pp. 219-222 October 17, 1905 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THK 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE NEW BIRDS FROM THE 

 MERIDA REGION OF VENEZUELA. 



J5Y J. H. RILEY. 



By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



The U. S. National Museum recently purchased a small col- 

 lection of bird skins from tlie well-known zoological collectors 

 Salomon Bricefio Gabaldon e hijos from the Merida region of 

 Venezuela. Coming from a locality from which most of the 

 European museums and collectors have received so much mate- 

 rial, principally from the above source and the exertions of 

 A. Goering, it was not to be expected that the collection would 

 contain many novelties. The three following birds appear to 

 be new, however, and are herewith described. 



Leptasthenura montivagans sp. nov. 



Type from San Antonio, Venezuela, 3000 meters. No. 190,383, U. S. 

 National Museum, d* adult. July 20, 1903. 



Specific characters. — Similar to LeptasiJieiiura andicola Sclater, but grayer, 

 the back more prominently streaked with white, the shaft streaks on the 

 top of the head lighter, the wings shorter and the tail feathers more pointed. 



Description. — Top of head black with cinnamon shaft streaks ; cervix and 

 intei-scapular region clove brown with ratlier broad white shaft streaks ; 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-cToverts broccoli brown witli obsolete 

 dusky streaks, these streaks more pronounced and lighter on the rump ; 

 chin and narrow superciliary streak white ; below hair brown with white 

 shaft streaks, these streaks more i)ronounced on the jugulum and chest, 

 fading and becoming obsolete on the belly; Hanks washed with Isabella 

 43— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XVIII, 1905. (219) 



