278 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and agrees substantially with a 

 specimen from Las Quiguas, Venezuela, forwarded to Mr. Bangs for 

 comparison. There can therefore be no doubt as to the proper appli- 

 cation of the name. 



It is difficult to understand how this bird could have been overlooked 

 by all previous collectors in this region. It is true that it is very rare 

 in the lowlands back of Santa Marta, but it is certainly common enough 

 at Don Diego and Fundacion. It prefers the open woodland, and at 

 Don Diego was taken mostly in the cacao- and cofifee-trees. It was 

 met with on the other side of the mountains also, at Loma Larga and 

 Valencia. 



228. Xiphorhynchus nanus nanus (Lawrence). 



Dendrornis susurrans (not Dendrocolaptes susurrans Jardine) Salvin and 



GoDMAN, Ibis, 1880, 171 (Minca). — Sclater, Ibis, 1889, 353, in text 



("Santa Marta"). — Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XV, 1890, 133 (Minca). 

 Dendrornis nana Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist, XIII, 1900, 157 (Caca- 



gualito). 

 Xiphorhynchus nanus nanus Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 50, V, 



1911, 250, 252 (Santa Marta localities; meas.). 



Additional records: Mamatoco (Carriker). 



Nineteen specimens : Don Diego, Trojas de Cataca, Fundacion, Cin- 

 cinnati, Las Vegas, Agua Dulce, and Tucurinca. 



Messrs. Hellmayr and von Seilern (Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, 

 LXXVIII, 1912, no) reduce this to a subspecies of X. guttatus, and it 

 must be admitted that the similarity between X. guttatus sororius of 

 the Orinoco region and the present form is close. However, X. nanus 

 is decidedly smaller in all its dimensions, the throat is more buffy, and 

 the general coloration is more olivaceous, less brownish, than in so- 

 rorius, so that for the present at least we prefer to follow Mr. Ridgway 

 in recognizing it as a distinct species. 



Deferring until a future occasion a discussion of the propriety of 

 recognizing a Venezuelan form, it may be stated that the Santa Marta 

 series agree substantially with Panama specimens. Such variation as 

 obtains is due partly to season, partly to age. In fresh plumage speci- 

 mens are more olivaceous, less rufescent. Immature birds have dark- 

 colored bills, and the markings of the under parts are more distinct, 

 with some tendency to cross-barring. No. 9,386 (Don Diego, May 17) 

 is peculiar in having the shafts of the rectrices white toward the base. 



