426 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



April. The nests are described by Dr. Allen as a mass of "grass, 

 flag leaves, [and] soft, more or less disintegrated vegetable fiber of 

 various kinds," with the entrance near the top, on one side. The 

 eggs, from two to four in number, " vary greatly in the tone of the 

 ground-color and in the color of the markings, the ground-color vary- 

 ing from nearly white to cream-color, and the markings in the palest 

 set, are very pale lavender, deeper lavender in another set, and olive 

 brown in the darkest set. In one set, they are pinkish lavender. The 

 markings, very fine and more or less blended, cover almost uniformly 

 the whole surface of the egg." 



388. Cistothorus alticola Salvin and Godman. 



Twenty-six specimens : San Miguel, Cerro de Caracas, and Ta- 

 quina. 



The present record involves an enormous extension of the known 

 range of this species, heretofore supposed to be confined to the Ro- 

 raima region of British Guiana. The Carnegie Museum had previ- 

 ously received a suite of specimens from northern Venezuela, however, 

 so that it probably occurs at suitable altitudes throughout the inter- 

 vening country. The Santa Marta birds differ from these Venezuelan 

 specimens slightly, being grayer, less rufescent, above, with the super- 

 ciliaries less distinct, while the sides and flanks average a little duller, 

 less rufescent, but it is likely that these differences are due to their 

 somewhat more worn condition, they having been taken later in the 

 season (March 26-April 6), whereas the Venezuelan birds were se- 

 cured March 1 to 3. Fortunately, it has been possible to compare the 

 series directly with topotypical material in the collection or the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with which they have 

 been found to agree in every respect. Cistothorus alticola belongs to- 

 that section of the genus having the pileum plain brown (or nearly 

 so), and appears to be most closely related to C. ccquatorialis Lawrence 

 (of which C. brunneiceps Salvin is a synonym, according to Mr. 

 Hellmayr) from western Ecuador. It differs from that form in its 

 generally darker, less buffy coloration, and in having the tail less 

 regularly banded with black, most of the rectrices, indeed, having a 

 large unbarred black area on their inner webs. A few individuals show 

 quite distinct spots on the under tail-coverts, and even on the flanks,. 



