Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 427 



approaching thus. the form described by Mr. Hellmayr from the Andes 

 of Merida under the name Cistothorus platensis meridce.^'' 



This little wren is an abundant bird in grassy lands throughout the 

 Macotama Valley, between 4,500 and 8,000 feet. It may straggle 

 above and below these limits, but not in any numbers, being essentially 

 a species of the Subtropical Zone. It is hard to understand how it was 

 overlooked by Mr. Brown in this section, although it is, to be sure, a 

 very shy bird and difficult to shoot. It lives in the rank grass of the 

 savannas, and cannot be flushed except early in the morning and just 

 at dusk, when individuals will occasionally make short flights over the 

 tops of the grass-stalks, dropping precipitately back again after flying 

 from twenty to fifty feet. Most of the specimens secured were shot 

 on the wing at such times, as it was seldom that any could be seen in 

 the grass. There was a pair near our camp at San Miguel, which 

 when all was quiet would creep up quite close in the grass, often scold- 

 ing in an odd little rasping chirp, sounding more like an insect than 

 a bird, but the moment anyone stirred they would be off like a flash, 

 simply vanishing completely out of sight in the thick covert. 



Family CORVID^. Crows, Jays. 



389. Cyanocorax affinis aflSnis von Pelzeln. 



Cyanocoraji: affinis Salvin and Godman, Ibis, 1879, 201 (Valle de Upar and 

 Atanquez ; crit.). — Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XII, 1898, 138 

 ("Santa Marta")- — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., .XIII, 1900, i6z 

 (Bonda, Minca, Las Nubes, Onaca, nad Cacagualito) ; XXI, 1905, 290 

 (Bonda ; descr. nest and eggs) . 



Cyanocorax affinis affinis Chapman, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVI, 1917, 

 636 ("Santa Marta"; crit.). 



Additional records: La Concepcion (Brown). 



Eighteen specimens : Bonda, Las Nubes, Mamatoco, Las Vegas, San 

 Miguel, Minca, Agua Dulce, Cincinnati, and La Tigrera. 



The series includes two birds in juvenal dress, collected on May 20 

 and June 13 respectively. The color-pattern is that of the adult, but 

 the black of the head, throat, and breast is replaced by brown, and the 

 blue color on the head is scarcely evident. 



37 Since the above was written Dr. Chapman (American Museum Novitates, 

 No. i:, 1921, 6) has described what appears to be the present bird under the 

 name Cistothorus platensis caracasensis. Mr. Hellmayr (Novitates Zoologies, 

 XXVIII, 1921, 255) insists that alticola is very close to polyglottus. 



