Todd-Caeriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region^ Colombia. 477 



size, the tail in particular being relatively longer, and by the rather 

 deeper purple gloss of the plumage in the male. Both these forms 

 are much more richly glossed with purple than is true bonariensis, 

 contrary to the statement of Dr. Stone, who must have been com- 

 paring specimens not fully adult. The recently described Molothrus 

 bonariensis cequatorialis Chapman (BulletiH American Museum of 

 Natural History, XXIII, 1915, 661) certainly requires comparison 

 with venezuelensis. 



A very rare bird in this region, being more numerous in the Magda- 

 lena basin than elsewhere. Simons got a single specimen at Ari- 

 hueca, and Mr. Smith sent in but one example, a female from Caca- 

 gualito. It frequents open lands, such as pastures or old fields, and is 

 so very shy and hard to approach that only two specimens were secured 

 by the writer. Several nests of other birds sent in by Mr. Smith 

 contained eggs of this species, which Dr. Allen has described as of the 

 usual Cowbird style, white, thickly speckled with reddish brown. 



457. Cassidix oryzivora violea Bangs. 



Cassidix oryzivora (not Oriolws orysivorus Gmelin) Salvin and Godman, Ibis, 

 . 1879, 201 (Manaure) ; 1880, 123 (Minca). — Sclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 



XI, 1886, 329 (Minca and Manaure) .—^Bangs, Proc. Biol. Sec. Washington, 



XII, 1898, 159 (Pueblo Viejo), 178 (Palomina). — Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., XIII, 1900, 163 (Valparaiso). 



Cassidix oryzivora violea Bangs, Proc. New England Z06I. Club, II, 1900, 11 

 (La Concepcion [type-locality] and Palomina ; orig. descr. ; type now in Mus. 

 Corap. Z06I. ; meas. ; crit.). — Ridgway^ Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 50, II, 

 1902, 197 (Santa Marta localities, and references; meas.). — Dubois,. Syn. 

 Avium, II, 1903, 1106 (ref. orig. descr.; range). 



Cassidix violea Sharpe, Hand-List Birds, V, 1909, 488 (ref. orig. descr. ; 

 range). — Brabourne and Chubb, Birds S. Am., I, 1912, 434 (ref. orig. descr.; 

 range) . 



Eleven specimens : Pueblo Viejo, Fundacion, and Chirua. 



Although no opportunity has yet been had to compare this series di- 

 rectly with topotypical oryzivora from Cayenne, the range of variation 

 shown is so great as to raise the suspicion that the form is not so 

 strongly characterized as Mr. Bangs {I.e.) and Mr. Hellmayr {Pro- 

 ceedings Zoological Society of London, 191 1, 1 122) would have us 

 believe. At any rate, some of the skins are scarcely or not at all dif- 

 ferent from a specimen from the Caura River in Venezuela, and from 

 a series from Bolivia, assumed (perhaps wrongfully) to represent true 



