398 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Genus ORTALIDA, Merrem. 



Ortalida, Merrem, Av. rar. Icones et L)esc. II, 1786, 40 (Gray). (Type, Phasianus 

 motmot, L.) 



Of Ortalida, as characterized above, Messrs. Sclater and Salvin enumerate 

 eighteen species ; like the rest of the family, all American. Of these only 



3T977 S 



Ortalida maccalli. 



one has so far been detected within our limits, although it is by no means 

 improbable that the 0. 2Joliocc.phala, Wagler (Sclater and Salvin, Pr. Zool. 

 Soc. 1870, 537), may yet be detected in New Mexico or Arizona.^ 



Ortalida vetula, var. maccalli, Baird. 



THE TEXAS CHACALACCA. 



Ortalida vetula, L.wvrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, 1851, 116. (Not Penelope vetula, Wagler, 

 Isis, 1830, 1112, and 1831, 517.) — Sol! & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, 538. (Considers it the 

 same as P. vetula, Wagler). Ortalida 'poliocephala, Cassin, Illust. I, ix, 1855, 267, 

 pi. xliv. (Not Penelope poliocephala, Wagler, Isis, 1830, 1112.) Ortalida maccalli, 

 Baird, Birds N.Am. 1858, 611. — Ib. M. Bonnd. II, Birds, 22. — Dresser, Ibis, 

 1866, 24 (S. E. Texas, breeding). — La wr. Ann. N. Y. IX, 209 (Yucatan). —ScL. & 

 Salv. P. Z. S. ]870, 538 (Honduras, Vera Cruz, Guatemala). — Reichenb. Handb. 

 der s,\). Orn. Lief, viii, 145. (Describes more adult specimens.) 



Sp. Char. Body above dark greenish-olive; beneath brownish-yellow, tinged with 

 olive. Head and upper part of neck plumbeous. Tail-feathers lustrous green, all tipped 



1 Messrs. Sclater and Salvin distinguish the allied species as follows : — 



0. 'poliocepliaJa, Wagler. Brownish-olive ; the head plumbeous, ligliter beneath ; the feathers 

 of the throat darker, and marked with gray ; middle of belly milky-white ; the flanks and 

 crissum tinged with rufous ; tail bronzed-green, the five lateral feathers broadly tipped with 

 buff. Length, 24.00; wing, 10.50 ; tail, 11.50 ; tarsus, 3.20. Hah. Table-land of Mexico to 

 west coast (Manzanillo, etc.). 



0. vetula, Wagler. Brownish-olive ; the head plumbeous, lighter beneath ; the middle of 



