CHERRIS: ORNITHOLOGY OF THE ORINOCO REGION. I35 



on the Orinoco, consequently the character of having the breast 

 spotted will serve to distinguish Hylocichla from adult examples of 

 Planesticus among birds seen or taken in the Orinoco region. 



Key to the Genera, Species and Subspecies of Turdidae. 



a. None of the primaries sinuated on the outer webs Caiharus. ' 



a'. Some of the primaries sinuated on the outer webs. 



b. Not more than three primaries sinuated on the outer webs Hylocichla aliciae aliciae. 



b'. Four primaries sinuated on the outer webs Planesticus. 



c. Skin about eye bare (in life bright citron yellow) Planesticus gymnophthalmus 



t'. Skin about eye feathered. 



d. A white patch below the blackish or dusky streaks on the throat. 



e. Above a rich olive brown strongly washed with rufous Planesticus phaeopygus 



phaeopygus. 



e'. Above rich olive brown with greenish wash Planesticus phaeopygus 



phaeopygoides. 

 d'. No white patch below the streaks on the throat. 



e. General color above a subdued olive brown, below greyish brown. Planesticus albiventer. 



«'. General color above tawny olive brown, below ochraceous brown. Planesticus fumigatus. 



' Planesticus gymnophthalmus (Cabanis). 



Turdus gymnophthalmus Cab. in Schomb. Reise Brit. Guiana III. 1848. 

 p. 665 ; Berlepsch & Hartert, Novit. Zool. IX. 1902. p. 2. 



Retiring and shy, frequenting clumps of trees and thickets in the 

 open savanna, and the underbrush near the borders of large timber. 

 It has a pleasing song, and call and alarm notes that somewhat 

 resemble those of the American Robin. Insects and fruits are included 

 in the diet and obtained chiefly from among the branches as I rarely 

 saw this thrush on the ground. The common native name for this 

 and the following species is "Paraulata Montahera." They are occa- 

 sionally kept as cage birds and become exceedingly tame. 



In life the eye is chestnut, the bare skin about eye citron yellow ; 

 bill dusky olive buff with pale cutting edges ; feet smoke grey. A 

 male bird taken at Maipures above the first falls on the Orinoco, had 

 the bare skin about eye ochre yellow and the eyelids orange-rufous. 



Nesting begins with the approach of the rainy season — in the 

 vicinity of Caicara, early in May — and continues until the end of June. 

 A nest taken at Caicara June 9, 1905, (Brooklyn Museum Collection) 

 was loosely placed on the thickly ma'tted horizontal branches of a low 

 shrub, about 1.21 m. from the ground. It was a rather bulky affair 

 with the exterior outlines of a truncated cone, 9 centimeters high, 25 

 centimeters in diameter at the base and 12 at the top. The bulky 



^The "Orinoco Valley" is taken as type locality (!) for Caiharus birchalli Seebohm. 



y 



