Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 415 



Additional records: San Miguel, Chirua, La Concepcion (Brown). 



Thirty-four specimens : El Libano, Valparaiso, Cincinnati, Las Ta- 

 guas. Las Vegas, Minca, Pueblo Viejo, and Heights of Chirua. 



Henicorhina is a most puzzling genus, and authorities differ as to 

 the number of specific types to be recognized. The best arrangement 

 would seem to be that proposed by Mr. Ridgway in 1904, in which the 

 forms with pale grayish white under parts are segregated both from 

 H. leucosticta, H. prostheleuca, and H. inornaia on the one hand, and 

 from H. leucophrys on the other, although in a linear sequence they 

 should probably occupy' an intermediate position between these two 

 groups. With only a partial representation of the various forms avail- 

 able for examination at this time, it is difficult to suggest any improve- 

 ment upon this arrangement in so far as the prese'nt form is concerned. 

 The first specimens of a Henicorhina from the Santa Marta region 

 received by Mr. Bangs were referred to H. leucophrys. But typical 

 H. leucophrys of Peru has the breast deep gray and the pileum nearly 

 black, characters which do not fit the Santa Marta bird, which Mr. 

 Hellmayr accordingly referred to H. hilaris, described from western 

 Ecuador. Fortunately there happened to be a cotype of this latter 

 form in the collection of the U. S. National Museum, whereby Mr. 

 Ridgway was enabled to distinguish the Santa Marta bird under the 

 name Henicorhina hilaris hangsi.^^ The present fine series show con- 

 siderable variation as regards the color of the under parts, some in- 

 dividuals being practically white below, and some showing faint 

 streaking ori the throat. Two specimens in juvenal dress (June 6 and 

 25) are darker and duller brown above, the pileum almost the same as 

 the back, the latter with faint indications of bars; below they are 

 duller grayish white than in the adult, with faint dusky squamations, 

 while the black and white markings on the sides of the head and neck 

 are less distinct, the superciliaries terminating behind in a fulvous spot. 



38 The only objectio,n to such an arrangement is that entailed by the dis- 

 continuous distribution of these two conspecies, which are separated by the 

 interposition of other forms not so closely related. It may very well be that 

 Henicorhina hilaris is the Subtropical Zone representative of H. prostheleuca, 

 surviving in two separate regions, but elsewhere eliminated through competi- 

 tion with H. leucophrys. At any rate, it is unlikely that H. leucophrys 

 anachoreta of the Temperate Zone has been derived from H. hilaris bangsi 

 of the zone below, although their respective ranges are now approximate, 

 but not actually contiguous. 

 28 



