BIRDS OF SOUTHERN VERACRUZ WETMORE 245 



The calls are harsh and raucous and are sometimes mingled with a 

 variety of chattering, clucking sounds. On some days the woods re- 

 sounded with these notes, and when they were especially noisy our men 

 often remarked on the fact, saying that there would be a change in the 

 weather. 



The names that have been employed for the more northern races of 

 this species are in considerable confusion, due to different interpre- 

 tations as to the identity of Wagler's Penelope vetula. The type of 

 vetula, examined by van Kossem in the Munich Museum, 15 is de- 

 scribed by him as being in molt. The newly grown third rectrices 

 have the tips pure white like those of birds from the lower Kio Grande 

 area, while in the outer pairs this color is somewhat dirty and grayish 

 owing to wear. Van Kossem remarks that the body color is very 

 dark like that of birds from farther south (jalapensis of Miller and 

 Griscom). He concludes that this specimen cannot be placed with 

 the form that ranges north into Texas, and that it is unlike any other 

 chachalaca that he has seen, being perhaps of an unknown race, 

 though possibly an aberrant bird of the group currently known as 

 jalapensis. This last suggestion is the one that it seems to me we 

 must accept, a conclusion reached after careful examination of a 

 long series of specimens. 



According to Miller and Griscom, 16 from information furnished 

 by Dr. C. E. Hellmayr, Wagler's type was secured by a collector 

 named Keerl, who worked near the city of Veracruz and then went 

 up to Mexico City. The type locality for vetula was, therefore, 

 designated by Miller and Griscom as "neighborhood of the City of 

 Veracruz, Mexico," correcting their earlier designation 17 of Tam- 

 pico, Tamaulipas. The latter could not be correct, as Keerl did not 

 enter that state. With the type of Wagler considered as coming 

 from near Veracruz, then vetula must be applied to birds from that 

 area. 



Miller and Griscom 17 have named Ortalis vetula jalapensis, with 

 the type from Jalapa at an elevation of 4,400 feet in the state of 

 Veracruz. Currently, for a number of years, the name vetula has 

 been applied to the race from the lower Rio Grande Valley from 

 Texas to Nuevo Leon southward through Tamaulipas, while jala- 

 pensis has been accepted for the race of chachalaca of the lowland 

 area from Veracruz city southward through the state of Veracruz 

 and farther. 



There are available in the National Museum two skins collected 

 by Nelson and Goldman at Jico, which is just outside Jalapa proper, 



15 Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, May 31, 1934, p. 350. 

 M Auk, 1921, p. 455. 

 "Auk, 1921, p. 46. 



