VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 517 



This blue grosbeak was recorded only at Caicara, and it was a 

 rare bird there, an occasional single or pair being found in overgrown 

 places at the savanna edge. The song began with a characteristic 

 loud chuwee, followed by rambling, typically finchlike notes. 



Tiaris bicolor omissa Jardine 



Tiaris omissa Jardine, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 20, 1847, p. 332 (Isla de Tobago). 

 1 cf , Barcelona, May 25, 1951; gonads greatly enlarged; iris dark; feet gray; 

 bird in worn plumage. 



The black-faced grassquit was common on the seacoast at Barcelona, 

 but was not recorded further inland. 



Sporophila nigricollis nigricoUis (Vieillot) 



Pyrrhula nigricollis Vieillot, Tabl. Enc. M6th., Orn., livr. 93, July, 1823, p. 1027 



("Br^sil"). 

 1 c?", Cantaura, August 10, 1952; gonads very much enlarged; iris brown; bill 

 pale blue; feet black; adult bird in fairly fresh plumage. 



The yellow-bellied seedeater was rather common in the deciduous 

 seasonal woods-edge habitat, especially where the small clearings had 

 depressions which occasionally contained pools of surface water. The 

 collector had overlooked this form for years, apparently having con- 

 fused it with Sporophila intermedia, which it resembled in general 

 appearance, call and song, and habitat, although the present species 

 appeared to show preference for more heavily overgrown spots. 



Sicalis flaveola flaveola (Linnaeus) 



Fringillaflaveola Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 321 (Surinam). 



Continued observation of this finch causes the junior author to con- 

 sider that it has greatly increased in numbers around the oil company 

 camps. A flight song was recorded in March and again in November, 

 one a single male and once two males together. The singing bird 

 rose almost vertically to a height of perhaps 80 feet, and still singing, 

 fluttered down to the top of a tree, where the song was continued, 

 the bird standing very upright, bill pointed straight up, wings still 

 fluttering. 



In the Anaco camp of the Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. this species was 

 found nesting in the pipe crossarm of a clothesline support (see notes 

 on Forpus viridissimus) . The male and female gather nesting ma- 

 terial, but the male often presents the material to the female for the 

 actual construction. The nest is composed of grass lined with finer 

 grasses and an occasional feather. The male commonly sings from 

 5 to 15 feet from the nest. Both parents feed the young, and by 

 early November the msectlike hzzzt of the flocks of fledglings is 

 to be heard on all the lawns in camp. 



