172 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



73. Ortalis ruficrissa (Sclater and Salvia). 



Ortalida ruficrissa Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, " 1870," 



J 87i, 538, footnote (Valle de Upar ; orig. descr. ; type now in coll. Brit. 



Mus.). — Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Avium Ncotrop., 1873. 137 (range). — 



Giebel, Thes. Orn., II, 1875, 765 ("Santa Marta " ; ref. orig. descr.; syn.). 

 Ortalis vetula (not Penelope vetida Wagler) Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Bra. 



Mus., XXII, 1893, 512 (Valle de Upar; crit.). 

 Ortalis ruficrissa Brabourne and Chubb, Birds S. Am., I, 1912, 12 (ref. orig. 



descr.; range). — Miller and Griscom, Auk, XXXVIII, 1921, 49, 50 (Dibulla; 



crit.). 



One specimen: Dibulla. 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant relegates this name to the synonymy of O. vetula 

 without any misgivings, but as he declines to recognize any of the 

 geographical variants of this species, several of which at least are ob- 

 viously perfectly valid races, as shown by the material in our collec- 

 tion, undue importance need not be attached to this conclusion. Up to 

 the present time this form appears to have been known only from the 

 type, described by Sclater and Salvin in 1871, and the acquisition of 

 a second specimen is therefore of some interest. Messrs. Miller and 

 Griscom, who have recently handled this specimen, have reached the 

 conclusion that the form which it represents should be regarded as 

 specifically distinct, although obviously close to O. vetula. It is cer- 

 tainly very distinct from O. vetula intermedia, differing therefrom in 

 its white-tipped tail, in which respect it resembles O. vetula vetula, 

 but the white tips are broader, and the upper parts in general, flanks, 

 and crissum are much more rufescent. With O. cincrciceps, from the 

 intervening country of Costa Rica, it requires no comparison. 



"Mr. Joad, F. Z. S., obtained two examples of this Ortalida in De- 

 cember, 1863, during his expedition in the vicinity of S. Martha. 

 Only one skin was preserved, which is now in the collection of .Salvin 

 and Godman," whence it later went to the British Museum. A single 

 male was taken by the writer at Dibulla, April 28, 1914, and the species 

 was common at that point. It proved to be a common and character- 

 istic bird in the region traversed by the writer in July, 1920, east of 

 the mountains, having been recorded at Arroya de Arenas, Loma 

 Larga, Fonseca, and Badillo. Several specimens were shot, but un- 

 fortunately not preserved. It seems to replace O. garrula on this side 

 of the Sierra Nevada, extending around the mountains as far at least 

 as Valle de Upar, where the type-specimen was taken. 



