﻿306 Mr. E. Hartert en the Birds of 



Linnets description of Tetrao cristatus is founded on 

 Brisson's Coturnix mexicana cristata (Orn. i. p. 260, pi. xxv.). 

 Brisson is of course wrong in his locality, but clearly figures 

 and describes the form from Curacao. As this island was 

 always visited by ships, the Abbe Aubry's Museum had very 

 likely got specimens from there. Gould (Monogr. Odontoph. 

 p. 16, pi. ix.) figures the present bird as E. cristatus, but 

 his localities are no doubt partly, if not altogether, wrong. 

 Berlepsch (/. c.) has already well described his E. gouldi, and 

 has pointed out in what respects it differs from E. sonninii. 

 The most obvious are the black stripes above and below the 

 ear-coverts, which never show in the species from Guiana, and 

 the colour of the underparts. The species from Colombia 

 (Bogota) is, beneath, more similar to E. cristatus, while its 

 head is more like that of E. sonninii. There can be no 

 doubt that all three species are quite distinct. 



Berlepsch had received only one skin — a female, as stated 

 by Peters, but in the fine plumage of the adult male, as 

 figured by Gould. My series contains but one female, and 

 this is similar to the males in plumage, but has the ear- 

 coverts brown and merely traces of the black stripes on the 

 sides of the head. I believe that the female gets the black 

 stripes when fully adult, and that Peters' s statement was 

 right, while Gould has figured young birds as females, for I 

 have three young specimens in different stages — one male, 

 one female, and one with the sex not determined. All these 

 three are alike and agree with Gould's figures of the so- 

 called females. The wings of my adult males measure from 

 3'9 to 4*1 inches, tarsus ] . The iris is dark brown, bill black, 

 and feet brownish grey. 



This pretty bird is not rare on Aruba and Curacao, but is 

 not found everywhere. The natives call it " Sockle," a name 

 derived from its note, which is uttered very frequently. It 

 is much esteemed as food, and sometimes sold in the market 

 alive. 



This bird is not easy to obtain in any great numbers 

 without a dog, as it does not care to fly and is difficult to be 

 seen in grassy places, It is not found on Bonaire. 

 [18] 



