406 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



Catharus fuscater sanctce-martce Ridgway, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Quarterly 

 Issue, XLVII, 1904, 112- (El Libano ; orig. descr. ; type in coll. Carnegie 

 Mus.). — Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 50, IV, 1907, 20 (diag. ; range; 

 references). 



Catharus sancta-marta Brabourne and Chubb, Birds S. Am., I, 1912, 348 

 (ref. orig. descr.; range). 



Eight specimens : El Libano, Las Taguas, Sierra Nevada de Santa 

 Marta (6,000 feet), San Lorenzo, Pueblo Viejo, and San Miguel. 



Specimens of this Catharus received from the Santa Marta region 

 were determined by both Mr. Bangs and Dr. Allen as C. fuscater (La- 

 fresnaye), described from "Bogota," Colombia. They differ con- 

 spicuously from typical fuscater, however, as shown by a .comparison 

 in series, in having the ventral surface '.much more uniform grayish, 

 the white more restricted, and with practically no tinge of buffy. The 

 form was described by Mr. Ridgway in 1904 from one of the above 

 specimens, being compared with the Central American race, C. fuscater 

 hellmayri von Berlepsch. The acquisition of additional material shows 

 that the characters ascribed to it are not entirely constant, the throat 

 being slightly paler than the breast in some cases, and the under tail- 

 coverts varying somewhat also. There is less white below, however, 

 than in hellmayri, and more black on the chin, so that the form is 

 recognizable, although not well marked. As pointed out by Dr. Allen, 

 males average darker and more richly colored than females. 



This thrush was taken by Mr. Smith's collectors at El Libano, on 

 the San Lorenzo, at an altitude of 6,000 feet, while Mr. Brown got one 

 specimen at Chirua. By the writer it was met with on the forest- 

 covered slopes of the San Lorenzo between 4,500 and 7,000 feet, being 

 most frequent between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, but rare everywhere. It 

 was occasionally heard, but rarely seen, in the Sierra Nevada, some- 

 times as low as 2,000 feet, as in the forest to the east of Pueblo Viejo, 

 and as high up as 7,000 feet on the forested slope to the east of San 

 Miguel. In its faunal distribution it is therefore essentially a species 

 of the Subtropical Zone. It is at all times an extremely shy bird, 

 never venturing out of the dark forest, where it. keeps close to the 

 ground, slipping away like a shadow when approached. _ Its song is 

 not at all like the other members of the genus which the writer has 

 heard, so that it was a long time before he was able to connect the 

 song with its author. It resembles more the clear whistling notes of 

 certain of the manakins, and is almost impossible to locate. 



