Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 399 



Smith sent in no fewer than eleven nests, with complements of eggs 

 varying from one to four. Dr. Allen describes them as " solidly built 

 of mud, plant roots, and stems, and are of the typical Merula char- 

 acter. The amount of mud used varies in different nests, as does the 

 size of the structure. 



"... The eggs are pale blue, thickly spotted and blotched over the 

 larger end with reddish chestnut, and sparingly over the rest of the 

 egg. The eggs vary greatly in the tint of the ground-color, and also 

 in the amount of spotting, and also in size." 



364. Turdus phaeopygus phaeopygus Cabanis. 



Merula phmopyga Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XII, 1898, 160 (Pueblo 



Viejo; crit). 

 Merula phmopyga minuscula Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washihgton, XII, i8g8, 



181 (Pueblo Viejo [type-locality] and Palomina; orig. descr. ; type now in 



Mus. Comp. Z06I. ; meas. ; crit.); XIII, 1899, 108 (La Concepcion and 



Chirua). — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 121, 182 (Bonda 



and Valparaiso; plum.). 

 Turdus ph(Eopygus var. minuscula Dubois, Syn. Avium, I, igoi, 402 ("Santa 



Marta," in range; ref. orig. descr.). 

 Turdus phaopygus minusculus Hellmaye, Journ. f. Orn., L, 1902, 63 (" Santa 



Marta "; crit.). — Hellmayr and von Seilern, Arch. f. Naturg., LXXVIII, 



1912, 27, in text (crit.; ref. orig. descr.), 

 Turdus minusculus Seebohm and Sharpe, Mon. Turdidse, II, 1902, 235 (descr., 



ex Bangs; crit.). 

 Merula minuscula Sharpe, Hand-List Birds, IV, 1903, 122 (ref. orig. descr.; 



range) . 

 Planesticus minusculus Brabourne and Chubb, Birds S. Am., I, 1912, 344 



(ref. orig. descr.; range). 



Thirty specimens : Valparaiso, Cincinnati, La Tigrera, Las Vegas, 

 Minca, Agua Dulce, Don Diego, and Pueblo Viejo. 



Comparison of the present series with an equally good one from the 

 Caura region and the north coast of Venezuela, which according to 

 Mr. Hellmayr are true phwopygus, fails to confirm any of the color- 

 characters assigned to " minusculus " either by that author or by the 

 original describer, or yet to discover any others by which it may be 

 distinguished. The variation in the color of the upper parts in both 

 series exceeds the difference between them, and is apparently due 

 mainly to season, examples taken from September to December being 

 more brownish above than those shot in the spring and summer 

 months. There is a slight average difference in size, but it is certainly 

 ,27 



