Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 497 



Additional records: La Concepcion, Chirua (Brown); Fundacion 

 (Carriker). 



Thirty-five specimens : Bonda, Minca, Cacagualito, Mamatoco, Cin- 

 cinnati, La Tigrera, and Don Diego. 



A study of this ample series, taken in connection with considerable 

 material from other parts of the range of the species, shows conclu- 

 sively that the variation in the gloss of the upper parts from violet to 

 steel-blue, upon which von Berlepsch mainly relied to discriminate a 

 form brachyptera, is individual and not geographical. The slight and 

 inconstant difference in size to which this author has called attention is 

 scarcely sufficiently important to recognize in nomenclature. It is 

 therefore unnecessary to discuss the matter of the type-locality of the 

 species, further than to call attention to the fact that Sclater based his 

 description on " Bogota " skins, while later, in the Catalogue of the 

 Birds in the British Museum, he expressly designated a specimen said 

 to be from " Santa Marta " as the type. 



It is evident that this species breeds in the immature dress, in which 

 the males have greenish-edged remiges and rectrices, with the upper 

 parts in general also green, like the females, but with a more or less 

 extensive admixture of steel-blue feathers, apparently acquired at the 

 postjuvenal moult. No. 38,079 (August 15) shows the first post- 

 nuptial moult in progress. 



A bird of the Tropical Zone, ranging from sea-level up to 5,000 

 feet, but most abundant between 1,000 and 2,500 feet, especially be- 

 tween La Tigrera and Minca in the "dry forest" section. Above 

 3,500 feet it is scarcely more than a straggler. It is usually met with 

 in pairs or small flocks, and is not shy. It seems to be entirely frugiv- 

 orous, and is particularly fond of the fruit of a certain mistletoe- 

 like parasite. Its note is a pleasant musical whistle. The nest is a 

 domed structure, composed almost entirely of the dry blades of a fine- 

 leaved bamboo-like plant, and is placed in a small cavity under an 

 overhanging bank, often along the roadside. The eggs, from two to 

 four in number, are white, thickly speckled with reddish brown, much 

 resembling those of the Black-capped Chickadee. 



Tanagra fulvicrissa fulvicrissa (Sclater). 



Euphonia fulvicrissa Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, " 1856," 1857, 276 

 ("Santa Marta"; orig. descr. ; type now in coll. Brit. Mus. ; crit.). — 

 Sclater, Cat. Am. Birds, 1861, 58 ("Santa Marta"). — Sclater and Salvik. 



