on the Genus Coereba. o27 



W S <3 ^ ? ?• Coll. Brit. Mus. 



4 c? c? & ? ? . Coll. P. R. L. 



A very common bird in suitable localities on Grenada. 



CCEREBA LAUR^T;. 



Coereba laurce Lowe, Bull. B. O. C. vol. xxi. p. 108 (1908) ; 

 Tins, April 1909, p. 320; Cory, Field Mus. Nat. Hist, 

 no. 137, Ornitli. vol. i. no. 5, p. 232 (1910), '-'Birds of 

 the Leeward Islands/' 



Hub. Los Testigos Islands, Venezuela. 



4 c^ c? & 5? ? . Coll. P. R.L. 



Measurements. Wings, (J c^ , average = 02 mm. ; exposed 

 culmen = 14*5 mm. 



Tliis is anotber black form of Coereba. Tlie bills of 

 Los Testigos birds are obviously stouter and less curved 

 than in C. atrata or C. wellsi. 



There is no brightly coloured tumid rictus in fresh 

 specimens in birds from St. Vincent and Grenada. In this 

 connection it is interesting to note that Taylor (' Ibis,' 

 1864, p. 81), remarking upon C. luteola, which is found 

 upon the neighbouring mainland, opposite the islands, 

 says : — " This continental species differs from C flaveola, 

 and the other species inhabiting the Antilles, in being 

 smaller and in not having the "prominent pink lips at the gape 

 which form so conspicuous a feature in them.'' 



I have already stated in the ' Ibis' (/. c.) that this absence 

 of the tumid rictus does not appear to be connected with 

 the non-breeding season, for the generative organs of my 

 Testigos birds were about to function. 



Newton also (' Ibis,' 1859, p. 67), in discussing the bright 

 pink rictus of the Coereba on St. Croix, says : — " These are 

 brightest in the adult, hut are also very conspicuous in the 

 young Inrd" (italics mine). 



Bearing in mind Taylor's remarks about the absence of 

 the brightly coloured tumid rictus in C. luteola, the point 

 arises — is C. laura a melanistic form of C. luteola from the 

 mainland ? 



The bird is quite comm.on on the largest island of the group. 



