﻿VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 535 



A pair raised two broods in front of the collector's home. When 

 the two fledglings left the nest in the third week of September, the 

 female began on the same day to brood at another nest, a small, 

 well-built, cuplike affair of grasses placed about 15 feet above the 

 ground. The female apparently did all the incubating while the 

 male attended to the young. Perhaps understandably enough, he 

 was heard to sing very little at that time. 



The song reminded the collector greatly of the song of the North 

 American indigo bunting {Passerina cyanea). 



Local name, "pico de plata," silver-bill, referring to the bird's 

 pale beak. 



SPOROPfflLA LINEOLA (Linnaeus) 



Loxia lineola Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 3, vol. 10, pt. 1, 1758, p. 174 

 ("Asia" = Surinam, Berlepsch and Hartert, Nov. Zool., vol. 9, 1902, p. 26). 



SPECIMEN COLLECTED 



1 cf , Cantaura, July 27, 1947; gonads very small; iris dark brown; gizzard 

 contained small seeds; plumage somewhat abraded. 



Judged by the data given by Hellmayr (Catalogue of the birds of 

 the Americas, pt. 11, 1938, pp. 209-211) the lined seedeater is an 

 uncommon bird in Venezuela; he lists but one record from Lake 

 Valencia, Carabobo, and three from Caicara on the Orinoco. 



On two occasions in July small flocks of this finch were seen at the 

 same pond in the deciduous seasonal woods edge at Cantaura. 



SPOROPHILA BOUVEONIDES (Lesson) 



Pyrrhula bouvronides Lesson, Traits d'ornithologie, livr. 6, 1831, p. 450 (Trinidad). 



SPECIMENS COLLECTED 



1 cT, 1 9 , Caicara, July 5, and November 6, 1947; gonads of July cf enlarged, 

 of November 9 small; iris dark brown to black, bill of 9 light brown with the 

 base of mandible yellowish, feet blackish; gizzards contained small seeds; cf in 

 fairly fresh plumage, 9 much abraded. 



The male has no whitish flecks on the forehead, agreeing in this 

 respect with others from Ciudad Bolivar (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 vol. 97, 1948, p. 565). 



This little finch was recorded in the months of April through 

 September. It was present in the deciduous seasonal woods both at 

 Cantaura and Caicara and in the lowland seasonal forest at Caicara, 

 being much commoner at Caicara. Careful search for this species in 

 other months failed to record the bird, except for one somewhat 

 doubtful record at Cantaura in January. In September at Caicara 

 the bird was abundant, in flocks of 10 to 15 individuals, where before 

 only singles and pairs had been recorded. This was apparently 

 premigration flocking, as the bird was absent or very rare in October. 



