BIRDS OF SOUTHERN VERACRUZ — WETMORE 253 



SCARDAFELLA INCA (Lesson) : Inca Dove 



Chamaepelia inca Lesson, Description de mammiferes et d'oiseaux recemment 

 decouverts . . ., 1S47, p. 211 (Mexico). 



Carriker secured two in the coastal sand dunes at El Cone jo on 

 February 12 and May 15, stating that he found one small flock here. 

 He reports another observed on the trail between San Andres and 

 Cerro de Tuxtla. Apparently the species is rare in this region. ^ It 

 seems desirable to me to consider this bird as specifically distinct 

 from the more southern Scardafella squammata. 



COLUMBIGALLINA PASSERINA PALLESCENS (Baird) : Mexican Ground Dove 



Chamaepelia passerina ? var. pallcscens Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. S<ci. Philadel- 

 phia, 1859 (Jan. 12, I860), p. 305 (Cape San Lucas, Baja California). 



Carriker found this little clove not uncommon in the coastal sand- 

 hills near El Conejo below Tlacotalpam, where he collected three 

 females on February 12 and May 15. We did not see it elsewhere 

 in the area covered. The skins secured appear slightly darker than 

 a series from Texas. 



COLUMBIGALLINA TALPACOTI RUFIPENNIS (Bonaparte) 



Chamaepelia rufipennis Bonaparte, Coinpt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 40, 1855, 

 p. 22 (Cartagena, Colombia). 



The six specimens obtained were secured near Tres Zapotes on 

 March 13, 22, and 27, 1939, and March 3, 5, and 15, 1940. The species 

 is fairly common in the vicinity but local in its distribution, being 

 found in little groups of six or eight. In periods of rain these doves 

 came out to feed at the borders of clearings, one group being found 

 regularly about our camp, so that I saw them daily during the early 

 part of my work. As the dry season came on they remained in the 

 thickets and the second-growth monte, where they fed on the ground, 

 flushing when startled with a flash of reddish brown from their 

 wings. When rainy days returned briefly, they appeared again in 

 our camp clearing. 



There is no question that rufipennis is conspecific with talpacoti. 



COLUMBIGALLINA MINUTA INTERRUPTA Griscom 



Chaemepelia minuta interrupta Griscom, Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 379, Oct. 17, 1939, 

 p. 4 (Secanquim, Guatemala). 



The only one obtained was a female that I took on March 25, 1939, 

 near the Arroyo del Sitio at Tres Zapotes. The bird was shot rather 

 hastily without recognizing its true identity until it came to hand 

 from a flock of half a dozen that flew up at the edge of a cornfield to 

 alight in a thicket. I suppose that in life this bird is often confused 

 with C. t. rufipennis. 



