March 3 

 1902 



1 I BANGS NEW SANTA MARTA BIRDS 89 



ornithologist felt so too. There is in the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology a fine pair of true C. frontalis from Venezuela, nos. 

 34,439 and 34,440, that were received in exchange from the 

 British Museum. A comparison of these with the Santa Marta 

 series shows plainly that the birds of the two regions belong at 

 least to different subspecies. 



The Santa Marta species is similar in general to C. frontalis, but the head is 

 paler golden green, in more marked contrast to the dark grass green of back, 

 and the blue band separating the colors of head and back is very narrow (in 

 the type, which has the neck stretched, and therefore this band spread to its 

 utmost, only 5 mm. wide) and of a color paler and greener blue — less tur- 

 quoise blue — than the rump. In true C. frontalis the head and back are 

 more nearly alike, and the collar on hind neck is very wide, sharply defined, and 

 of a bright, clear, turquoise blue like the color of the rump. 



Furthermore, in the new form the yellow frontal band is broader and much 

 deeper in color — being darker than the belly, whereas in true C. frontalis it 

 is paler yellow than belly ; in true C. frontalis the yellow front, in both sexes, 

 is separated from the bill by a narrow band of green, in the new form the 

 yellow front, in both sexes and at all ages, extends directly to the base of the 

 bill ; the female of the new form has the lower part of the rump and the upper 

 tail coverts blue — not so intense as in the adult male, but very different from 

 the plain green of these parts in the adult female of true C. frontalis. 



Young males of the new form are similar to the adult male, except that 

 the under parts — breast, belly and sides, — are deep olive yellow, instead of 

 clear, bright, lemon yellow, and that the blue of the rump is not so clear and 

 intense. Adult females are similar to young males, but still duller, more oliva- 

 ceous below, and with the rump mostly green, dull turquoise only on lower 

 part and on some of the upper tail coverts. 



Measurements. — Adult male, type: wing, 61.5; tail, 34.5; tarsus, 15.; 

 exposed culmen, 8.5 mm. Adult female, from San Sebastian, 6600 feet alti- 

 tude, (in worn plumage, June 28, 1S99), no. 6989: wing, 61.; tail, 32.; tarsus, 

 16.; exposed culmen, 9. mm. 



Catamenia alpica sp. nov. 



Catamenia, sp., Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII, p. 164. 



Type, from Paramo de Chiruqua, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, 

 15,000 feet altitude, $ adult, no. 6248, coll. of E. A. and O. Bangs, collected 

 Feb. 27, 1899, by W. W. Brown, Jr. 



