252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM Vol. 87 



from low bushes at the borders of the woodlands to the tops of the 

 tallest trees in heavy growth and were found usually with companies of 

 other small forest-loving birds. When low down they sometimes came 

 within a few feet of me, to hop quickly and alertly through the branches 

 with a flutter of wings, with the tail jerking sideways. At such times 

 the light-yellow iris showed clearly, whUe at a distance the white mark 

 forming a semicircle around the posterior margin of the eye and the 

 yellow breast band were prominent. These specimens agree closely 

 with birds in the National Museum from Colonia Tovar and from 

 Pico Naiguata, Estado Miranda. 



TACHYPHONUS RUFUS (Boddaert) 



Tangara rufa Boddaert, Table des planches enlumin^ez, 1783, p. 44 (Cayenne). 



This wide-ranging bird, known to me previously in northern Argen- 

 tina, I saw on October 17 in the grounds of the American Legation in 

 Caracas. At Ocumare de la Costa they were common, but it was 

 October 30 before I secured my first specimen, a female, as the birds 

 frequented the borders of dense scrub where it was difficult to see 

 them. A male in molt into adult black plumage, with brown feathers 

 stUl remaining in the wings, was taken on October 31 along the Rio 

 Cumboto. Near Rancho Grande they ranged in the brush along the 

 highway or in growths of heavy weeds, being seen to an elevation of 

 3,500 feet. Several were seen at Maracay on November 11, and I shot 

 a male 9 miles north of Parapara, Estado Guarico, on November 12. 



RAMPHOCELUS CARBO VENEZUELENSIS Lafresnaye 



Ramphocelus Venezuelensis Lafresnaye, Rev. Mag. Zool., 1853, p. 243 (Caracas, 

 Venezuela) . 



At La Trilla, inland from Ocumare de la Costa, I collected an adult 

 male on October 23, and on the 28th shot two more from a little com- 

 pany of four chattering in the lower branches of the shade trees in a 

 cacao plantation. They were seen also in the valley of the Rio Cum- 

 boto. At Rancho Grande thej were recorded on November 9 and 10 

 about growths of dense brush along the open roadway. One called 

 loudly whis whis as it rested with jerking tail on an open perch. 



HEMITHRAUPIS GUIRA NIGRIGULA (Boddaert) 



Tanagra nigrigula Boddaert, Table des planches enlunaineez, 1783, p. 45 

 (Cayenne) .■"> 



On November 12 I shot a male in a small thorn tree 2 miles south of 

 Parapara, Estado Guarico. The following day I saw another near El 

 Sombrero working through the branches of thorny trees almost as 

 actively as a warbler. 



" WhUe Boddaert says Cayenne, Buffon, Hlstoire naturelle des oisoaux, vol. 4, p. 283, gives "Quyane." 



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