VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 489 



Family Phasianidae: Pheasants, Quail, and Their Allies 



Colinus cristatus mocquerysi (Hartert) 



Eupsychortyx mocquerysi Hartert, Bull. British Orn. Club, vol. 3, 1894, p. xxxvii 



(Cumand, Departamento de Sucre, Venezuela). 



1 9, Caicara, March 19, 1950; gonads very small; iris brown; bill very dark 

 brown; feet light blue gray; skull well ossified; gizzard contained seeds, one ant, 

 and flowers. 



This specimen agrees with the two recorded in oiu' earlier paper. 

 We are still of the opinion that mocquerysi is a valid race. 



Family Rallidae: Rails, Coots, Gallinules 



Neocrex erythrops olivascens Chubb 



Neocrex erythrops olivascens Chubb, Bull. British Orn. Club, vol. 38, 1917, p. 33 

 (Venezuela). 

 1 (?, Caicara, July 20, 1950; gonads enlarged; bill dull green with the base bright 

 red; feet red; eyes shine red at night when illuminated by hunting lantern. 



Two careful observers of local wildhfe assured the collector that 

 the red-faced crake nested in the cornfields around Caicara. This 

 appears to be in agreement with the fact that the present specimen 

 had enlarged gonads, and was probably a breeding bird. 



Family Heliornithidae: Finfoots 



Heliornis fulica (Boddaert) 



Colymbus fulica Boddaert, Table des planches enlumindez d'histoire naturelle, 

 1783, p. 54 (Cayenne, ex Daubenton, pi. 803). 



Whereas we had previousl}'^ (1950) recorded this bird only from 

 Caicara, during October four of these peculiar birds were subsequently 

 observed on a little artificial lake near Cantaura, as they swam quietly 

 about among the drowned trees and the overhanging imderbrush. 

 A very loud wak-wak-wak call, almost certainly made by these birds, 

 was heard. 



Family Charadriidae: Plovers 



Hoploxypterus cayanus (Latham) 



Charadrius cayanus Latham, Index ornithologicus, vol. 2, 1790, p. 749 (Cayenne). 

 1 unsexed, Cantaura, July 31, 1950; iris dark, bill black with base of mandible 

 dull orange; feet bright orange; skull well ossified. Adult bird, molting the 

 remiges. 



This beautiful little spur-winged plover, rare in the area (not more 

 than two were ever seen at one time), was recorded at savanna ponds 

 in Jime, July, and August. The call is a clear, pleasant whistle, con- 

 sisting of two separate notes, one high, the other quite low, in tone 

 somewhat like that of the spring call of the greater yellowlegs 



