﻿VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 473 



In Jul}'^ one nest was found about 5 feet above ground in a hollow 

 branch near Cantaura. It contamed two nestlmgs. 



In keeping with the finchlike appearance and flight of this bird, 

 its call note w^as a high finchlike chee chee chee. It reminded the 

 collector of the red crossbill (Loxia curvirostra minor) of the Eastern 

 United States. 



The local name of this little parrot of the river valleys was "popuis." 



AMAZONA OCHROCEPHALA OCHROCEPHALA (Gmelin) 



Psitiacus ochrocephalus Gmelin, Systema naturae, vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 339 

 (South America; restricted to Venezuela by Berlepsch and Hartert, Nov. 

 Zool., vol. 9, 1902, p. 109). 



SPECIMENS COLLECTED 



1 cT, 1 9 , Cantaura, February 10, 1945, and February 10, 1946; gonads of male 

 not enlarged, of female slightly so; in both iris orange, eye ring white. Both 

 specimens are in rather abraded feathering. 



Wetmore (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 87, 1939, p. 201) notes that 

 a male from Rio Guarico, while identifiable to the nominate race, 

 shows an approach to the characters of panamensis, especially in the 

 head markings. "On the left side of the crown the yellow color 

 extends to the cere with a faint barely distinguishable line of green 

 extending along its anterior margin. On the right the green color 

 spreads across behind the cere cutting off completely the yellow of 

 the crown." In the present male the cere is almost entirely yellow, 

 and this color is continuous with that of the crown. In the female 

 the cere and a narrow frontal band are greenish, and so there may well 

 be a matter of sexual dimorphism here that should be taken into 

 account in future re visionary studies of this parrot. 



This was the common large parrot of the wooded regions. It was 

 recorded throughout the year; no seasonal fluctuation in numbers 

 was noted. It was the collector's feeling that this species preferred 

 the dry woods while the other (Amazona a. amazonica) was more a 

 bu*d of wet woods. Though both were encountered in the same lo- 

 calities, this species was commoner around Cantaura, while Amazona 

 a. amazonica was the more abundant around Caicara. Both species 

 were seen flying in pairs, generally in loose groups of 10 to 30 birds. 



Fledgings were brought to the collector during March and April. 

 He did not find a nest but was informed locally that the birds nested 

 in hollowed-out termite nests and that the usual clutch was two eggs. 



This parrot's commonest call note may be written cacdwuk, with 

 the accent on the middle syllable. 



Local name, "loro." 



AMAZONA AMAZONICA AMAZONICA (Linnaeus) 



Psittacus amazonicus Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 147 

 (Surinam; error = "le pays des Amazones," Hellmayr, Nov. Zool., vol. 17, 

 1910, p. 406). 



