Vol. XXXVIII 



1920 



Todd, The Genus Eupsychortyx. 203 



sides of the head are mainly white or buffy white; they thus cor- 

 respond to the description and figure of Eupsychortyx mocquerysi 

 Hartert, described from Cumana, on the mainland opposite Mar- 

 garita Island. It is fair to presume that this is the same bird, 

 and the name having two years' priority will have to supersede 

 pallidus of Richmond. Dr. Lowe, indeed, refers specimens from 

 the Cariaco Peninsula to the latter without comment, and it is 

 worthy of note that the faunal conditions here are precisely the 

 same as on Margarita. Under these circumstances I fail to see 

 how we can avoid accepting Dr. Hartert's name, based on the 

 white-throated phase, for the insular as well as the Cumana birds. 



In view of the extensive range of sonnini and the large amount 

 of individual variation to which it is subject, it is somewhat sur- 

 prising to find a geographical variant with such a restricted dis- 

 tribution. Evidently the excessive aridity of its habitat has 

 operated to produce pallor, as in the case of several other species 

 similarly affected. Lieutenant Robinson writes as follows con- 

 cerning its habits as observed by him: "These handsome birds 

 were abundant in the thorny thickets near the coast, but none 

 were seen in the interior of the island. They ran through the 

 cactus undergrowth with incredible swiftness and it was a difficult 

 matter to cause them to take wing. The call of the male is iden- 

 tical with that of our common bob-white, and the call of the 

 scattered members if a covey is also the same. The native name 

 is 'perdiz.'" Mr. Clark found the bird "common along the 

 bases of the hills, and in the scrub on their lower slopes." The 

 late Mr. Ferry found it "in abundance at Mocanao, the peninsula 

 at the west end of the island, and in riding along the cactus-covered 

 plains from Boca del Rio (south-central part of the island) we 

 saw several flocks." 



Specimens examined. — Venezuela: Margarita Island, 11; El 

 Valle, Margarita Island, 1. Total, 12. 



Eupsychortyx leucopogon leucopogon (Lesson). 



Plate V, figure 4- 



Ortyx leucopogon Lesson, Rev. Zool., 1842, 175 ("San Carlos," Central 

 America; orig. descr.; type in coll. Paris Mus.[?]). — Des Murs, Icon. 

 Orn., 1846, text to pi. 36 (descr.; range).— Gray, Gen. Birds, III, 1846, 



