Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 503 



483. Saltator olivascens plumbeus Bonaparte. 



Saltator plumbeus Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., XXXVII, 1853, 923 (" Santa 



Marta "; orig. descr. ; type in coll. Paris Mus.). 

 Saltator olivascens (not of Cabanis) Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1856, 



71 ("Santa Marta"; crit.). — Wyatt, Ibis, 1871, 115, 327 (Santa Marta; 



crit.). — Salvin and Godman, Ibis, 1880, 121 (Santa Marta). — Sclater, Cat. 



Birds Brit. Mus., XII, 1886, 289 (Santa Marta). — von Berlepsch, Verh. V. 



Int. Orn.-Kong., 1911, 1115 ("Santa Marta," ex Bonaparte). 

 Saltator olivaceus (lapsus) Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 167 



(Bonda and Santa Marta) ; XXI, 1905, 291 (Bonda; descr. nest and eggs). 

 Saltator olivascens plumbeus Bangs and Penard, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 



LXII, 1918, 91 ("Santa Marta"; diag.). 



Twenty-seven specimens : Santa Marta, Cautilito, Bonda, Cienaga, 

 Tucurinca, Fundacion, Mamatoco, Dibulla, Rio Hacha, and La Ti- 

 grera. 



Compared with a series from the Orinoco region and the Guiana 

 frontier of Venezuela, doubtless correctly assumed to represent true 

 olivascens, these birds are markedly duller and paler, especially below 

 and posteriorly; the throat is whiter, less buffy; the maxillary stripe 

 is less pronounced; and the superciliaries are also much reduced, be- 

 ing almost obsolete in some specimens. They represent a well-marked 

 subspecies, to which Bonaparte's name plumbeus, based on a Santa 

 Marta specimen, is of course applicable. Saltator grandis of Mexico 

 and Central America, the nearest relative of 5". olivascens, does not 

 (so far as known at present) occur in Panama, so that there is quite 

 a considerable gap between their respective ranges. 



Several young birds in juvenal dress are included in the present 

 series, bearing such various dates as May 6, August 13, September 28, 

 and October 9. They are characterized by their greenish coloration 

 above, and by their more or less streaked under parts, resembling 

 thus 5". striatipictus. 



A Tropical Zone species, confined strictly to the coastal plain and 

 lower edge of the foothills. It is partial to the drier portions, and 

 was accordingly found to be most abundant at Rio Hacha. It seems 

 to prefer second-growth woodland and the low scrub of the more arid 

 sections. As a rule it is met with in pairs, and is quite tame. Dr. 

 Allen describes the nests collected by Mr. Smith as " large, bulky struc- 

 tures, rather rudely constructed externally of sticks and plant stems, 

 often intermixed with leaves and long strips of a broad-leaved sedge 



