250 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM Vol. 87 



HOLOQUISCALUS LUGUBRIS LUGUBRIS (Swainaon) 



Quiscalus lugubris Swainson, Animals in menageries, 1838, p. 299 (British 

 Guiana) /' 



Near Ocumare de la Costa, where three females were taken on 

 October 25, 27, and 29, these grackles were fairly common on the open, 

 pastured flats around the lagoon at Independencia. They ranged in 

 flocks of six or eight birds that walked about on the ground and when 

 alarmed took shelter in low trees or in the rushes of the lagoon. Occa- 

 sionally a whole flock would fly suddenly to perch on the back of some 

 grazing goat, which paid no attention to them whatever. At Maracay 

 these birds came about the hotels, and one flew familiarly through 

 a broad, high-ceilinged room with large patios on either side. A male 

 in full molt was taken at the school at La Providencia on November 11. 

 At El Sombrero gracldes were common, especially in the pasturelands 

 along the Rio Guarico, and many were found in the town itself. The 

 dining tables at the hotel were set under the shelter of a little balcony 

 that looked out on a small, paved patio with a few shrubs and flowers. 

 After the noon meal when all was quiet one or two grackles often came 

 to search for food about the tables, eying me sharply as I sat preparing 

 specimens, but without fear. The iris in this species is yellow. 



MOLOTHRUS BONARIENSIS VENEZUELENSIS Stone 



Molothrus venezuelensis Stone, Auk, Oct. 1891, p. 347 (Lake Valencia, Venezuela) . 



On November 11a considerable flock walked among the cattle in 

 the grounds of the Agricultural School at La Providencia near Maracay. 

 The type specimen, in the U. S. National Museum, is from Lake 

 Valencia, not from San Esteban as stated by Hellmayr.^^ 



CACICUS CELA CELA (Linuaeus) 



Parus Cela Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 191 (Surinam) « 



The arrendajo is universally known in northern Venezuela, and 

 several times I had glimpses of birds that I was sure were this species. 

 But it was not until November 16 at El Sombrero that I shot my 

 first specimen, an adidt male, as it ranged in good-sized trees near a 

 small lagoon, where I heard it giving a musical, oriolelike call. Others 

 were seen in heavy timber on November 18, and on the following day 

 I found a number about the blossoms of a flowering shrub and col- 

 lected an adult and an immature female. Many were seen on Novem- 

 ber 20 in low woods near the Rio Guarico. The adult female is duller 

 black than the male, and the immatui-e female is distinctly more 

 grayish, especially on the lower surfaces of the body, than the adult. 

 Like Ostino ps the plumage of these birds has a distinct musky odor. 



M Designated by Berlepsch and Hartert, Nov. Zool., vol. 9. 1902, p. 33, 

 « Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 13, pt. 10, 1937, p. (>4. 

 « Designated by Hellmayr, Nov. Zool., vol. 13, 1900, p. 20. 



