Aug. 1922. Game Birds — Osgood & Conover. 41 



lonornis martinicus Linnaeus. 



Lagunillas, 1. 



A very common bird on the cienega at Lagunillas, where it outnum- 

 bered Gallinula choropus galeata about two to one. Wherever there 

 were water plants floating on the surface, one was sure to see a number 

 of these birds. Sometimes they were single, and again twenty or 

 thirty birds, mixed lonornis and Gallinula, would be seen scattered 

 over a patch of water weeds. Birds in every stage of the immature 

 plumage were seen. At this time. May 9th and loth, nests were found 

 which, from the appearance of the eggs, seemed to belong to this species 

 and not to Gallinula. The nests were woven of rushes, about ten inches 

 in diameter, and placed some two feet above the water among the stems 

 of live rushes. 



Fulica caribaea Ridgway. 

 Lagunillas, i. 



The one specimen obtained is certainly not F. americana, but agrees 

 with Ridgway 's description of F. caribaea. It has a large elliptical 

 frontal shield 18.5 mm. long and 11. 5 mm. wide, which was white in 

 life, but in the dried skin is pale brownish and much wrinkled. Com- 

 parison of this bird with West Indian specimens of F. caribaea in 

 the Field Museum shows it to have a heavier bill, and larger feet. 

 This is the first record of F. caribaea from the mainland, and it is 

 possible that it will prove to represent a local race, but, with only one 

 specimen, we hesitate to describe it as such. It was killed from a 

 flock of about seven birds on the cienega of Lagunillas. The birds were 

 not wild, and had the same habits as the American Coot. 



Local name. Pica plata. 



Belanopterus cayennensis Gmelin. 



Rio Cogollo, 2; Catatumbo, i. 



Found in numbers on the savannas near the Rio Cogollo. They did 

 not seem to be partial to water, but were found mostly on the open 

 grassy savannas. Their habits were very similar to those of our 

 common Killdeer Plover. They are very noisy birds. 



Himantopus mexicanus Miiller. 

 Lagunillas, i. 

 On May 9th a pair was seen and on May loth three more. 



