Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 227 



than females, but the type has been chosen from the latter sex be- 

 cause it so happens that all the comparable specimens of true frontalis 

 belong to that sex. The specimen from Algodonal, on the lower 

 Magdalena River, referred to by Dr. Chapman (Bulletin American 

 Museum of Natural History, XXXVI, 1917, 344), undoubtedly be- 

 longs to this same pale race, while the Panama examples may be dif- 

 ferent again. Besides the above, we have three specimens from the 

 Sinu region of Colombia, farther to the eastward along the coast. 



On the first trip to Fundacion this bird was not met with at all, but 

 on the second it was one of the first birds shot. It was more numer- 

 ous at Tucurinca, in the heavy forest of the alluvial plain, and prob- 

 ably ranges over the whole of this plain surrounding the Cienaga 

 Grande, and thence over into the Magdalena basin. 



167. Malacoptila mystacalis (Lafresnaye). 



MalacopHla mystacalis Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XII, 1898, 133 

 ("Santa Marta''). — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 134 

 (Onaca, Valparaiso, and Las Nubes). — Chapman, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 XXXVl, 1917, 342 ("Santa Marta Mountains"). 



Thirteen specimens : Onaca, Valparaiso, Cincinnati, and Las Taguas. 



In Juvenal plumage, illustrated by Nos. 42,476 and 42,589, Cincin- 

 nati, July 10 and 25, the color-pattern is like that of the adult, but the 

 colors are duller, the rufous of the throat and breast being still imper- 

 fectly developed. 



This species has thus far been taken in this region only in the Sub- 

 tropical Zone of the San Lorenzo and Horqueta, between 4,000 and 

 6,000 feet, apparently not reaching the main Sierra Nevada. It is 

 confined to the heavy forest, and is not at all abundant, being a quiet 

 and rather stupid bird. The nest is placed at the extremity of a hole 

 in a bank of earth, excavated by the birds to a depth of nearly two 

 feet (in the case of the one examined). The tunnel proper is from 

 two to three inches in diameter, while the nest-chamber at the 

 end is enlarged to be about six inches across and four inches high. 

 The nest is very slight — merely a few twigs and dead leaves. The 

 one examined was in a bank by the roadside, where people and ani- 

 mals were passing daily; it contained one young bird, nearly fully 

 fledged. 



