1917.] Chapman, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia. ' 199 



(1256) Colinus cristatus leucotis (Gould). 



Ortyx leucotis Gould, P. Z. S., 1843, p. 133 ("Santa F6 de Bogotd" — I suggest 

 Honda, alt. 600 ft. Magdalena River, Colombia). 



Eupsyehortyx leucotis Scl. & Salv., P. Z. S., 1879, p. 544 (Medellin); Robinson, 

 Flying Trip, p. 153 (Guaduas; Honda). 



This is a species of the Tropical Zone which in open country ranges up- 

 ward into the Subtropical and even to the lower border of the Temperate 

 Zone. It occurs on the western slope of the Western Andes in the arid 

 Caldas basin^ is not uncommon in the Cauca Valley and is found as far south 

 as La Sierra south of Popayan, this marking the southern known limits of 

 the genus. In the upper Magdalena Valley it is abundant. To the west 

 it reaches up the Central Andes to at least 8300 ft., and to the east we have 

 specimens from the Eastern Andes almost up to the border of the ^Bogota 

 Savanna. Quail are said to occur on the Savanna but we have not suc- 

 ceeded in securing specimens and cannot say whether the Savanna quail 

 represents leucotis or parvicristalus or an intergrade between the two. 



Caldas, 1; Cali, 1; La Sierra, 1; El Eden, 1; Chicoral, 4; Honda, 12; 

 Purificacion, 1 ; - Fusugasuga, 1 ; Anolaima, 1 ; El Carmen, Bogota region, 

 1; El Alto de la Paz, 5. 



(129) Colinus cristatus parvicristatus {Gould). 



Ortyx parvicristatus Gould, P. Z. S., 1843, p. 106 ("Santa F6 de Bogotd"; — I 

 suggest F6meque, alt. 6300 ft., s. e. of Bogotd). 



Through Brother Apolinar I have obtained two male specimens of this 

 form from Fomeque some twenty miles southeast of Bogota at an altitude of 

 6300 feet. A small flock of quail seen at Quetame were doubtless also of 

 this species. The country about Villavicencio is suitable for quail but we 

 neither saw nor heard any there. Our stay, however, was far too short to 

 warrant an assertion of the absence of the species from this locality. 



This form is readily distinguished from lev^qtis by its brown ear-coverts 

 and unspotted breast. Whether it intergrades with leucotis on the Bogota 

 Savanna, where quail are said to occur, remains to be determined. In view, 

 however, of the height of the mountains bordering the Savanna on the east 

 it does not seem probable that this form actually comes in contact with 

 leucotis which is doubtless the Savanna bird. 



From C. c. sonnini, parvicristatus is distinguished chiefly by its shorter, 

 darker crest, darker ear-coverts, grayer interscapular region, and blacker 

 markings of the lower back and tertials. 



Fomeque, 2.* 



