Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 309 



on the determination of the type-locality of Formicivora intermedia. 

 Cabanis had before him specimens from Cartagena and the Aragua 

 Valley in Venezuela, as already said. He supposed that the birds 

 from the respective localities were the same, whereas they are now 

 known to represent two very distinct forms, of which the males happen 

 to resemble each other very closely. His description of the male may 

 apply to either form, but his description of the female can only 

 apply to the Venezuelan bird. Hence, in the absence of any present 

 evidence to the contrary, we are justified in taking Aragua Valley, 

 Venezuela, as the type-locality of intermedia.^* A considerable series 

 from various localities in Venezuela are precisely the same as the 

 Santa Marta specimens. It may be added that in the writer's judg- 

 ment M. intermedia, M. grisea, M. orenocensis, and M. hondce are 

 perfectly distinct species, although the latter ought to be called M. alti- 

 cincta hondce, as already suggested by Dr. Chapman. 



At first the young male of the present form closely resembles the 

 adult female, as shown by No. 38,172, Mamatoco, September 2. Later 

 on it goes through a partial moult, and assumes the adult dress for the 

 most part, but retains the brownish wings of the juvenal dress and 

 some buffy whitish feathers below, while the black area of the under 

 parts is more restricted. This plumage is illustrated by No. 38,713, 

 April 19. 



This bird is confined to the more arid parts of the littoral Tropical 

 Zone. It was not met with on the west or northeast sides of the Sierra 

 Nevada until Dibulla was reached. It is abundant in the Goajira 

 Peninsula as well as in the Rio Rancheria-Rio Cesar Valley, and fairly 

 common in the dry scrub and cacti around Santa Marta outside the 

 irrigated section. It is an active bird, continually uttering its weak 

 little chirp, and is usually seen in pairs, low down in the scrub. 



Mr. Smith sent in three nests to the American Museum of Natural 

 History, all from Bonda, at dates of April 21, May 15, and September 

 18. " These nests are slight, pensile structures, suspended by the rim 

 from the forked twigs of a horizontal branch. They consist of fine 

 wire-like plant fibers, probably grass-stems, loosely woven to form 

 the deep cup-shaped nest, which is fastened to the twigs by looping 

 some of the fibers over them. They are so slight and open that the 



34 Since the above was written Mr. Hellmayr has independently reached 

 the same conclusion. 



