﻿VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 415 



The area may be divided into three main types of habitat: Savanna, 

 deciduous seasonal forest, and lowland seasonal forest. To this must 

 be added an important habitat from the point of view of bird distribu- 

 tion, deciduous seasonal forest edge. Although obviously present 

 wherever the woods thin out, this habitat is particularly characteristic 

 of the Sacacual-Las Piedras formation where it is still covered with 

 remnants of the Mesa formation, which gives rise to an orchard-Lype 

 woods with spaced trees and small clearings, supporting a number of 

 species not to be found on the savanna, nor yet in the woods proper. 

 The ponds and rivers represent another important habitat for many 

 species, while the stands of moriche palm also have several species 

 characteristic to them. 



Although further minor divisions can be distinguished, the area is 

 marked by the lack of variety of habitats. It contains no mountains, 

 no seacoast, no extensive marshes or wooded swampland; even the 

 cactus scrub and spiny woods are almost completely lacking within 

 the area. 



The savanna is a broad grassland, typically dotted with widely 

 scattered scrubby trees, which at places disappear altogether and at 

 other places become more abundant. The ground cover is composed 

 characteristically of short, rough grasses. Though the occasional pres- 

 ence of clay strata near the surface allows other species to establish 

 themselves locally, the typical trees of the savanna are the small, 

 scrubby Curatella americana,^ Byrsonima crassifolia, and Bowdichia 

 virgilioides ?, known locally, respectively, as chaparro, chaparro mateca, 

 and alcornoque. In the vicinity of permanent water these species 

 tend to be replaced by stands of the moriche palm. The chaparro 

 often forms thick "chaparral es" in the immediate vicinity of large 

 semipermanent ponds, where the moriche is typically absent, but it 

 appears unable to invade permanently watered land. Also to be 

 found near permanent water is the cashew, or merei (Anacardium 

 occidentale) . With the probable exception of the alcornoque the 

 fruit of all these plants is eaten by birds of this hfe zone. 



Some characteristic birds of the savanna are: 



Theristicus cavdatus caudatus Asio flammeus pallidicaudus 



Cathartes urubitinga Podager nacunda 



Buteo albicaudatus colonus Reinarda squamata squamata 



Belonopterus chilensid cayennensis Anthus lutescens lutescens 



Zenaidura auriculaia stenura Sturnella magna praticola 



Burhinus bislriatus vocifer Sicalis luteola luteola 

 Speotyto cunicularia brachyptera 



The deciduous seasonal forest is composed of trees averaging less 

 than 30 feet in height, with occasional taller trees scattered throughout. 



» Botanical identifications, except where stated as by the junior author, are based on specimens named 

 by the Department of Botany, U. S. National Museum. 



