242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAIi MUSEUM Vol. 87 



Family SYLVIIDAE 



POLIOPTILA PLUMBEA PLUMBICEPS Lawrence 



PoHopHla plumhiceps Lawrence, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 17, 

 1865, p. 37 (Venezuela). 



In the somewhat open scrub covering the hot hillsides near Ocumare 

 de la Costa, from October 23 to 31, this was one of the most prominent 

 of the small birds, as whenever I paused for a moment in the shade of 

 a tree in traveling the trails I was almost certain to see a gnatcatcher 

 working through the twigs with wings dropped and tail at a jaunty- 

 angle above its back. Four were taken here, a pair at La Trilla on 

 October 23 and others near Independencia on October 25 and 26. 

 Near Maracay I shot another on November 11, and at El Sombrero I 

 saw them regularly from November 13 to 20. In form and manner- 

 isms these birds are identical wdth other gnatcatchers that I have 

 known . The song is a simple swees swees swees swee, a pleasing trilling 

 note of more volume than that of Polioptila caerulea of the United 

 States. Natives at Ocumare called them hlanquitas, though I was 

 not entirely certain that this was not a descriptive term rather than a 

 true name. Both male and female had the dark spot on either side 

 of the base of the tongue that I have seen in other species of the genus. 



The male and four females at hand all have the feathers behmd the 

 nostrils distinctly whitish, a marldng that I do not find in any other 

 specimens assigned to plumbiceps that are available. The mark is 

 especially prominent in the male. 



Family CYCLARHIDAE 



CYCLARmS GUYANENSIS FLAVIPECTUS Sclater 



Cyclorhis flavipechis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1858 (1859), p. 448 

 (Trinidad) . 



The four specimens taken include a male from Maracay, November 

 11, another from Ortiz, November 12, and a pair from El Sombrero, 

 November 16 and 21, the latter from Hato Paya. One chattered 

 harslily from concealment among leaves in the grounds of the Amer- 

 ican Legation at Caracas on October 17. The bird collected at Ortiz 

 was singing a clear, whistled song as it moved leisurely through a 

 treetop. At El Sombrero they were seen in open scrub on the uplands 

 and in wet woodlands along the Rio Guarico. 



The specimens are identified in accordance with the treatment of 

 Hellma3T, ^^ who notes that the type specimen in the British Museum 

 is from Trinidad. 



« Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 13, p. 8, 1935, p. 198. 



