BIRDS OF SOUTHERN VERACRUZ — WETMORE 329 



HABIA SALVINI SALVINI (Berlepsch) 



Phoenicothraupis salvini Berlepsch, Ibis, 1883, p. 487 (Vera Paz, Guatemala). 



This is one of the most common tanagers around Tres Zapotes, being 

 represented in our collection by an excellent series. They were found 

 in small flocks in heavy forest, where they ranged through the bushes 

 and lower trees, chattering and calling as they moved along. They 

 were readily decoyed and sometimes came up very close to me. Often 

 I recorded several flocks in the course of a day. On Cerro de Tuxtla 

 Carriker secured specimens on March 13 and May 9, finding them 

 rather rarely to 2,500 feet elevation. He shot one breeding male 

 on May 9 in full immature dress. 



Our series agrees with salvini in general and shows no approach to 

 littoralis. I am not certain that this form and its close relatives are 

 specifically allied to the more southern gutturalis. It is interesting 

 that the smaller species, H. r. nibico'icles, with dull-orange crown spot 

 in the female and black-bordered crown spot in the male, was common 

 in the mountains and rare in the lowlands, while with the present bird 

 the reverse was true. 



LANIO AURANTIUS Lafresnaye 



Lanio Aurantius Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool., 1846, p. 204 (Guatemala). 



Carriker found this one of the more abundant birds in the Sierra 

 de Tuxtla, where it ranged in wandering bands, usually high in the 

 trees. He noted that the call note was loud. On Cerro de Tuxtla he 

 took specimens on March 19, 23, and 29, April 3 and 9, and May 4 and 

 6. He recorded them also on Volcan San Martin. Apparently they 

 may wander somewhat during the colder weather, as he shot specimens 

 at Tres Zapotes on January 26 and February 28. 



That Lanio leucothorax in its geographic variation includes niela- 

 nopygius and related subspecies is easily evident. But Hellmayr's 

 treatment of all these as conspecific with Lanio aurantius has no basis 

 in fact. At present there appear to be no forms of aurantius, though 

 it may be noted that females in the present series from Veracruz ap- 

 pear a little duller on the dorsal surface than a few old skins from 

 Guatemala. 



EUCOMETIS PENICILLATA PALLIDA Berlepsch 



Eucometis spodocephala pallida Berlepsch, Auk, 1888, p. 451 (Yucatan). 



On March 31, 1939, Ramon brought one from the village that his 

 brother had killed with a stone. I saw one several times at camp where 

 it came out of a little thicket to snatch berries growing at the border 

 and then slipped back into cover. 



There is another specimen in the National Museum collection from 

 Buena Vista, Veracruz, taken on Jime 4, 1901, received from A. E. 



