﻿496 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM tol. loo 



mens from near Maracay and from near Parapara, with which it 

 agrees very closely. 



The call is an even, rapid series of chi notes, rather wrenlike in 

 quality. It may remain at the same pitch throughout the call or 

 the pitch may rise and fall. 



This species was relatively common locally in the deciduous seasonal 

 woods and at the edge of the lowland seasonal forest. It was re- 

 corded in March, April, July, and August, and was apparently nesting 

 in July in a hole in a "papaya" tree, about 8 feet above the ground. 



Local name, "carpintero." 



CAMPYLOKHAMPHUS TROCHILIROSTRIS VENEZUELENSIS (Chapman) 



Xiphorhynchus venezuelensis Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, 

 1889, p. 156 (Venezuela). 



SPECIMEN COLLECTED 



1 unsexed, Caicara, December 17, 1945; gonads destroyed by shot; iris brown, 

 tarsi and toes dull pea green; plumage abraded. 



This species was common locally in the wet woods around Caicara 

 (recorded in May, August, and December) ; it was not present around 

 Cantaura. While the local name of tliis bird is "tanguero," anteater, 

 the collector did not observe the bird eating ants. However, he often 

 saw it using its long curved bill to probe to the bases of the pineapple- 

 like leaves of the epiphytic plants common on the trees in the wet 

 woods. 



The call note of this species is similar to that of Dendroplex picirostris 

 phalara, although it is less musical. It usually commenced with four 

 or five spaced notes, followed by a series of staccato notes, which rose 

 rapidly to a peak and rapidly dropped back to the pitch at which the 

 caU began. 



SITTASOMUS GRISEICAPILLUS GRISEUS ( Jardine) 



Sittasomus griseus Jardine, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 19, 1847, p. 82 (Tobago). 



SPECIMEN COLLECTED 



Ic?, Cantaura, April 13, 1946; gonads very enlarged; iris dark brown. 



Hellmayr (Catalogue of the birds of the Americas, pt. 4, 1925, pp. 

 359-360) writes that "comparison of a large amount of material . . . 

 fails to disclose any constant difference between Tobago and mainland 

 examples" and gives the range in northern Venezuela as from Bermu- 

 dez west to Merida. Our present specimen is considerably duskier, 

 more brownish olive, than specimens from Tobago and San Julian 

 (near Caracas) , while one from Rancho Grande is much more greenish 

 than any of the others. It would seem, from this, and in light of the 

 recent separation of a west Venezuelan form perijuanus Phelps and 



