Todd-Carriker: Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 425 



Sclater identified it with Furnarius griseus Swainson, and this ref- 

 erence was accepted by most subsequent authors, including Dr. Allen 

 in 1900. Shortly thereafter, however, Messrs. von Berlepsch and 

 Hartert {Novitates Zoologiccz, IX, 1902, 4) pointed out that Swain- 

 son's name had been misapplied by Sharpe in the Catalogue of the 

 Birds in the British Museum, and really belonged to the gray-backed 

 bird of Guiana and the lower Orinoco, which was specifically distinct 

 from both Heleodytes minor Cabanis and H. bicolor von Pelzeln. 

 " Bogota " skins were found to agree with the type of the latter. No 

 specimens of this group from the interior of Colombia have been 

 available for comparison in this connection, but it is clear both from 

 von Pelzeln's original description and from Messrs. von Berlepsch and 

 Hartert's remarks that such must be different as regards both size and 

 color from the Santa Marta bird, as represented by our series. On the 

 other hand Baird {Review of American Birds, 1864, 96) described the 

 Santa Marta bird accurately, referring it to H. grieseus with reserva- 

 tions. The correct allocation of the present form has been recently in- 

 dicated by Mr. Cherrie, who, however, seems not to have been aware 

 that it had been provided with a name long ago. It is a strongly 

 marked geographic race of H. minor, differing in its generally darker 

 coloration, the feathers of the upper back being blackish brown cen- 

 trally, uniform with the nape, while the lower back, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and wings externally are much deeper, more rufescent brown. 

 The white markings on the tail vary considerably in both forms, but 

 there is less of the barred effect on the middle rectrices so much in 

 evidence in most specimens of minor. 



A common and characteristic representative of the semi-arid and 

 arid coast region of the Tropical Zone, as well as of the more humid 

 lowlands to the west of the Sierra Nevada, reaching also the valley 

 country on the opposite side of the range, as has lately, been deter- 

 mined. It frequents shrubbery, cacti, and scrubby trees, but keeps 

 nearer the ground as a rule than H. nuchalis or H. curvirostris, al- 

 though like them it is a noisy, inveterate scold, and very inquisitive, 

 with a partiality for the vicinity of farmhouses and the outskirts of 

 little villages. Wyatt speaks of finding a pair building their nest high 

 up in a gigantic cactus in a mimosa thicket near Santa Marta, and 

 Simons found it very common there also. Mr. Smith's collectors se- 

 cured a few nests and eggs from the vicinity of Bonda, all taken in 



