LÖNNBERG AND RENDAHL, ORNITHOLOGY OF ECUADOR. 21 



at high altitudes. As a rule occurring in small parties from 

 2 to 6. »They are expert divers, but the flesh is very tough. » 



A male killed ^Vc ^^^ ^^^ throat and the cheeks distinctly 

 greyish, while another from the same date has these parts 

 pm-e white like the others. It seems thus rather difficult 

 to maintain any difference between P. calipareus and P. c. 

 juninensis Berl. & Stolzm. 



Podihjmbus podiceps Lin. — A female ' 2^ La Carolina. 



Larus serranus Tschudi. — A male from Arcadia 6 miles 

 south of Quito, 9700 f., and male and female from Lake Mica, 

 Antisana, 13500 f., all collected in April. It is also stated on 

 a label that these birds only show themselves at these local- 

 ities during the låter part of April and beginning of May. 

 From the latter locality there is, however, also a yomig speci- 

 men collected ^V?- This is apparently an exception, because 

 concerning another young bird, no doubt of this species, from 

 La Carolina "/^ there is a similar statement on the label: 

 »found at small lakes in the interiör, a few come to La Caro- 

 lina in April and May, now scarcely». 



Attagis chimhorazenis Sclater. — 3 males resp. ^/g, 



1% and 2V„; 4 females resp. ^V^, '7io, Vn ^nd ^Vif, a less than 



halfgrown chick ^Vjo- AU these specimens are from Pichincha 



from an altitude between 14500 and 15000 feet below the 



snow-limit, where they live among the stones and sand thrown 



ont from the crater. Consul Söderström has never seen them 



below 14000 feet. They live thus in the alpine zone just like 



the Ptarmigans of the North. There appears also to be a cer- 



tain resemblance between both with regard to the somewhat 



irregular moult, although, of course, Attagis has no third 



white piumage. The feathers of the back display two different 



patterns, viz. one with the greater part of the feather mottled, 



and another with the feathers provided with a marginal and 



usually also a sub marginal band (in some cases even partly 



traces of a third). In the fresh feathers these markings are 



more or less strongly buff-coloured, but they fade gradually 



to whitish in the old feathers. The marginal band has often 



become completely worn off in the old feathers. That the buff 



markings fade to whitish may be concluded from the fact 



that feathers displaying markings of the latter colour always 



are more worn than those with buff ones. Now, all specimens 



