1895. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 6^1 



Family SYLVIID.E. 



71'. POLIOPTILA PLUMBICEPS, Lawrence. 

 LAWKKNCK'S GNATCATC HER. 



roiiopfila j)h(i>ibiceps, Lawui.xce, Proc. Acad. Sci. Fliil., ISti.o, ;^7. 



Abundant at all i)oints on the island, its lial)its closely resembling 

 those of our gnateatcher. 



[Five specimens, including two males, were collected at Laguayra and 

 Margarita. These are sutticiently distinct from ]\ iiifiricep.s (»f western 

 Mexico to deseive a name, aud P. phiinhiccj>.s of Lawrence, altliongh a 

 misnomer, is the only available name I have been able to tind. 'I'his 

 species was based on a female or young male from Venezuela, ami was 

 thought by ^Ir. Lawrence to represent a fourth section of the genus, 

 having the entire crown dark plumbeous. The adult male has, how- 

 ever, as black aud glossy a cap as P. nuiriccps. From the ty[)e and 

 two other specimens of P. nUjrkeps! the present specimens difler in 

 having considerably shorter tails (average about 0.30 inch), wing aud 

 tarsus also a trifle shorter, and in having slightly broader bills. The 

 white edging on the outer webs of tertiaries is proujinent in the Vene- 

 zuelan and Margaritan si)ecimeus. The black base of the outer tail 

 feather umy end obliquely or transversely (as in two females from 

 Laguayra), but in three of the si>ecimeus is slightly oblique, and in all 

 of the specimens is concealed by the under tail-coverts. — C W. K.J 



Fandly TLTRDIl)^^^.. 



73. PLATYCICHLA CARBONARIA (Lichtenstein). 



YELLOW-BILLED THRUSH. 



Beak, feet, aud lids gamboge yellow, skin around eye yellowish. 1 

 saw only two individuals and they were in the heavy fcuest up in the 

 region of i)erpetual mist. 



IL HIRDS OBSERVED AT GUANTA, YENEZl^ELA. 



On the return trip from Margarita to Laguayra our steamer stopped 

 for a few hours on July U to take on coal at Guanta, a i)ort 12 miles east 

 of Barcelona. The harbor is almost landlocked and thoroughly pro- 

 tected on three sides by high hills. It has a comnuxlicnis wluirf erected 

 by an English company oi)erating a railroad from (iuanta to Barcelona, 

 and thence some miles farther into the interior to a coal mine, whence 

 the company is obtaining a good supply of coal. The hills surrounding 

 the harbor are fairly well clothed with trees, ami tiie shores aie thi<'kly 

 fringed with mangrove swam])s, which, owing to the breeze being shut 

 oft" by the hills, reek witli malaria. At the back of the harltor there 

 is a tiat valley, down which a toituous stream creeps sluggishly in a 



