Range of the Gudcharo in S. America. 335 



large proportion of those that were shot were by no means 

 in good plumage, a variable number of the quills of the 

 wings and tail, and sometimes the feathers of the crest, and 

 frequently those of the neck and breast, being only in pro- 

 cess of growth. So marked was this feature in October 

 1888, along the Abary creek, that I was inclined to regard 

 that season as a moulting-period ( f Timehri/ vol. ii., new 

 series, 1888, p. 364) ; since then, however, I have found 

 them in very much the same condition in July 1889 and 

 January 1890. 



This is all that I am at present able to furnish about the 

 habits and breeding of these birds ; but I trust soon to be 

 able to offer some additional notes on a few points that 

 have remained untouched owing to the want of definite 

 information. 



XXIX. — On the Rangeofthe Gudcharo (Steatornis caripensis) 

 in South America. By P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S. 



The range of the very peculiar and isolated bird-type, Stea- 

 tornis, in South America is much wider than is usually 

 represented. Some time ago I made some investigations on 

 this point which 1 only partly published (see P. Z. S. 1866, 

 p. 130) . It may save future writers some trouble if I give 

 a few further remarks on the subject, principally taken from 

 my former notes. 



The Guacharo was originally discovered by Humboldt and 

 Bonpland in 1799 in the cavern of Caripe, in the province of 

 Cumana, Venezuela*. I/Herminier, in 1834, obtained spe- 

 cimens from the same locality, and published an excellent 

 article f on the bird. Because I/Herminier lived in Gua- 

 deloupe, Gray, in his ' Genera of Birds ' (i. p. 44), gave that 

 island also as one of the localities of the Guacharo. But 

 this was a great error. 



* See Humboldt, ' Journ. de Physique,' liii. p. 57 (1801). 

 t N. Ann. d. Mus. iii. p. 321 (1834) ; id. Coinpt. Rend. iii. p. 67 (1836) ; 

 id. Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, vi. p. 60. 



