﻿PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 Vol. 100 Washington: 1950 No, 3268 



A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF 

 NORTHEASTERN VENEZUELA 



By Herbert Friedmann and Foster D. Smith, Jr. 



During the past few years the United States National Museum 

 has received from the junior author several collections of birds made 

 by him in the states of Monagas and Anzoategui in northeastern 

 Venezuela. Though not large in total number of specimens, these 

 collections contain more than 240 forms, and almost all are accom- 

 panied by full data concerning the condition of the gonads, the colors 

 of the soft parts, and, in many cases, the contents of the gizzard. 

 The field observations also are uncommonly rich, and the description 

 of the terram and climatic and ecological factors is believed to be far 

 more complete than is usual in such ornithological accounts. In this 

 paper the identifications and the notes on the specimens and the litera- 

 ture are by the senior author; the gathering of the material, the field 

 notes, and the descriptions of the collecting localities are the work of 

 the junior author. 



During a period of 8)2 years * spent in northeastern Venezuela, the 

 junior author attempted to take at least one example of every species 

 of bird seen by him within the limits of the area described below. In 

 his opinion the collections here reported upon may be considered to 

 form a reasonably complete list of the avifauna of that region, although 

 in many instances taxonomic discussion has been hampered by lack 

 of sufficient series. 



1 June-December 1944; January-December 1945; January-May 1946; May-December 1947; and Janu- 

 ary-December 1948. 



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855851— 5C 



