BIRDS OF NORTHERN VENEZUELA — WETMORE 209 



covert beyond the tail are identical. These details are repeated in 

 the second plate in Gould's second edition ,^^ where it is stated that 

 the bird had been sent "in tolerable abundance from Venezuela." 

 Peters ^^ therefore is correct in using fulgidus as the older name, 

 tliough the typical name should be applied to the bird found in Vene- 

 zuela west at least to the Cumbre of Valencia. The Santa Marta 

 race, named festatus by Bangs, is distinguished in part by the longer 

 upper tail coverts and the greater development of the loral plumes. 

 According to Todd and Carriker ^^ the upper tail coverts in the adult 

 male of festatus extend "more than an inch" beyond the tail in the 

 ad\dt male. In my specimen from Rancho Grande this difference is 

 only 10 mm. Mr. Todd informs me (in litt.) that in three Santa 

 Marta m.ales in the Carnegie Museum the upper tail coverts project 

 32, 34, and 39 mm., respectively, beyond the tail, while in two from 

 Colonia Tovar and Mirasol (near Cumanacoa), Venezuela, this pro- 

 jection is only 16 to 19 mm. Measurements for my specimen are as 

 follows: Wing 183, tail 154, cullmen from base 22.8, tarsus 18.8 mm. 



Family ALCEDINIDAE 



MEGACERYLE TORQUATA TORQUATA (Linnaeus) 



Alcedo iurquaia Lixnaets, Systeina ijaturae, ed. 12, 1766, p. 180 (Mexico). 



On November 111 recorded one at La Providencia near Maracay, 

 and on November 19 saw another along the Rio Guarico near El 

 Sombrero. To hear a blackbirdlike chuck and then to look up to see 

 this large kingfisher always amuses me. 



CHLOROCERYLE AMAZONA (Latham) 



Alcedo amazona Latham, Index ornithologicus, vol. 1, 1790, p. 257 (Cayenne). 

 A pair seen along a small stream near Parapara. 



Family GALBULIDAE 



GALBULA RUFICAUDA RUFICAUDA Cuvier 



Galbula ruficauda Cuvier, Le regne animal, vol. 1, 1817, p. 420 (Cayenne). 



Aly first acquaintance with this interesting species of jacamar was 

 on the morning of October 26 near Ocumare de la Costa when, as I 

 came over the slope of a little hill, I saw one perching quietly on an 

 open, shaded perch under the spreading top of a thorny tree. The 

 bird, a female, rested rather erect, with the tail haiiging straight down, 

 turning the head slowly from side to side. Near the tip of its bill it 

 held a small butterfly with orange in the wrings that fluttered away as 

 I walked up after shooting my specimen. Two days later I collected 



'« A monograph of the Trogonidae, ed . 2, 1858, pi . 3 and text. 



>' Auk, 1929, pp. 115-116. 



" Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. 14, 1922, p. 243. 



