BIRDS OF NORTHERN" VENEZUELA — WETMORE 201 



the top of a dead tree standing in the open on the crest of a steep- 

 sided ridge. 



FORPUS PASSERINUS VIRIDISSIMUS (Lafresnaye) 



Psittacula viridissima Lafkesnate, Rev. Zool., 1848, p. 172 (Caracas, Venezuela) 

 At Ocumare de la Costa on October 26 I found two feeding in the 

 tops of low trees in dense scrub and collected a female, and on October 

 30 secured another female from a little flock feeding in low trees above 

 a road. Near Maracay on November 111 recorded several flocks in 

 level pastures dotted with trees and shrubs and heard their twittering, 

 finchlike notes. The birds flew in rather close formation twisting 

 and turning considerably. Near El Sombrero I saw them on Novem- 

 ber 17 and 19. Many were kept in captivity. 



AMAZONA OCHROCEPHALA OCHROCEPHALA (Ginelin) 



Psiitacus ochroeephalus Gmelin, Systema naturae, vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p 339 

 (Venezuela). 



Near El Sombrero I found these parrots common around the 

 Meseta, but rather wild. On November 20 in low woods near the 

 Rio Guarico many were feeding in the trees, seeming indifferent to 

 my approach unless I came quite near, and then flying only for a 

 short distance. Even when I shot one the others paid little attention, 

 though several saw the bird as it fell to the ground with a loud thump. 



The male taken I have identified as the subspecies ochrocephala, 

 though I am not satisfied with the present limits assigned to the 

 typical race and to panamensis. It measures as follows: Wing 199.0, 

 tail 112.1, culmen from cere 31.4, tarsus 24.1, mm. 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. It will be noted that in size 

 and in head marking there is approach to the characters ordinarily 

 attributed to panamensis. 



Family CUCULIDAE 



COCCYZUS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (Linnaeus): TeUov-billed Cackoo 



Cuculus americanus Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. Ill (South 

 Carolina). 



At Ocumare de la Costa I collected a male on October 26 in low 

 bushes back of the beach near the lagoon. I had the impression that 

 it had just arrived from the north as its thin, gaunt body with no fat 

 whatever and the shrunken pectoral muscles, so reduced that the keel 

 and the posterior margin of the sternum projected prominently, 

 were most striking. On October 29 one was seen in a sea-grape tree on 

 the beach, and a freshly dead bird, found in low bushes near the shore, 



