LI E> RARY OF THE U N IVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 590.5 PI v.3L Cop. 5 NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY NATURAL HISTORY SURVO y 32 FIELDIANA • ZOOLOGY Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Volume 31 August 19, 1949 No. 32 NOTES ON SOME VERACRUZ BIRDS Melvin A. Traylor, Jr. Research Associate, Division of Birds During the identification of a collection of birds that my wife and I made in central Veracruz during the summer of 1948, points of general interest were brought out concerning the species of birds listed below. The collection as a whole included 160 species of birds, but the great majority of these are well known from Veracruz, and require no comment. The localities at which collections were made were: Ojochico. — A small village about 10 miles east-northeast of Cordoba, at an elevation of about 1,700 feet. It is situated on the edge of a level plain (which from here slopes gradually down to the Gulf of Mexico) at the base of the forested foot- hills, which are about 500 feet high where they run into the plain and continue to rise from there up to the heights of Orizaba. The plain is intensively cultivated, with sugar cane and corn the principal crops. The hills for the most part are covered by the original forest, but in many places the undergrowth has been cleared and coffee is grown in the shade of the forest trees. The birds are predominantly tropical. Collecting at Ojochico was made possible through the kindness of Mr. Dyfrig McH. Forbes, manager of the Engenio Potrero, who delights in acting as a fairy godfather to all visiting scientists. Collecting was carried on from July 26 to August 14. Tezuitlan. — A small city on the border between Veracruz and Puebla, about 40 miles northwest of Jalapa. Collections were made between altitudes of 4,500 and 5,500 feet on the road from Tezuitlan to Nautla (a small town on the gulf), on the eastern slope of the plateau. For the most part the vegetation was the original forest, since the terrain is too precipitous for extensive lumbering or agriculture. Here were found many forest-inhabiting species that were ap- 3. 635 269 $o. 635 -p 17 1949 ~,-mrai History Purvey 270 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 31 parently common at Jalapa, at the same elevation, in the last century, but which recent collectors have failed to find there because extensive agriculture has resulted in the clear- ing of the forests. Collecting was carried on at Tezuitlan from August 18 to September 1. Perote. — The last station was in the pine forests on the slopes of the Cofre de Perote at an altitude of 8,500 feet and about three miles from the city itself. This was a comparatively dry locality, since the mountains somewhat sheltered it from the prevailing easterly winds and rains. The forests here were continuous stands of open pine with very little deciduous growth, while fifteen miles to the east at Las Vigas, at the same elevation, there was considerable mixed growth and the climate was much more humid. Collecting was carried on here from September 2 to September 8. Leptotila verreauxi subsp. Three specimens from Ojochico, compared with topotypes from Yucatan, are typical examples of fulviventris Lawrence of the low- lands of southern Mexico, while two from Tezuitlan at 4,500 feet altitude are equally good examples of angelica Bangs and Penard from northern Mexico. There is no sign of intergradation in any of these specimens, although the localities are only 75 miles apart. Further collecting may show that these two forms are altitudinal rather than geographical representatives in northern Veracruz. Glaucidium minutissimum gnoma Wagler A single female from the Cofre de Perote at 8,500 feet altitude. Although Griscom (1931, p. 43) suggests the mountains of Veracruz as type locality of gnoma, the present bird is, as far as I can determine, the first record for the species from Veracruz. The next nearest record is an immature from Tochimilco, Puebla, which Nelson and Palmer called fisheri (1894, p. 41). The Perote bird agrees closely with specimens in comparable plumage from Tancitaro, Michoacan. Caprimulgus carolinensis Gmelin A single immature male, collected August 22 at Tezuitlan, altitude 5,000 feet, is the fifth record for this species for Mexico. This specimen is extremely dark, darker than any specimen in the Chicago Museum collection, and only approached by a single juvenal female, taken August 30, 1928, at Winslow, Arkansas. The Tezuitlan 59; TRAYLOR: VERACRUZ BIRDS 271 specimen was shown to Dr. Alexander Wetmore, who was kind enough to check the extensive series in the National Museum for similar specimens. He informs me (in litt.) that there are three similar birds in that collection, all early fall birds and all apparently females, although one was marked "male" on dissection, although it exhibits the female type of tail feathers. It appears from the uni- formity of the dates of these blackish specimens that there is in the first winter plumage a dark phase in which the juvenal wing and tail feathers are retained. This is not the juvenal plumage as given by Ridgway (1914, p. 506), which is lighter than the adult. Although August 22 is an early date for a migrant bird to reach southern Mexico, it is not prohibitively so, and there is no evidence for a breeding population south of the United- States. This bird was collected at dusk from the top of a dead tree from which it was making short flights after insects, an action at variance with its usual habits in the states. Amazilia Candida Candida Bourcier and Mulsant In 1938 Meise (1938, p. 2) named from El Asterilla, Veracruz, a race genini, which was characterized by its larger wing. When a series of six adults from Ojochico, however, were compared with series from Oaxaca, Yucatan, Campeche, and Izabal, Guatemala, no difference in wing lengths was found. The averages at all localities fell between 52 and 53 mm. The range of the nominate race, there- fore, should include the Caribbean tropics of Middle America from Veracruz to Nicaragua, and genini becomes a synonym of Candida. Amazilia yucatanensis cerviniventris Gould Two birds from Ojochico are topotypes of cerviniventris. When these two specimens, and two other representatives of this race from Jacala, Hidalgo, are compared with a long series of topotypes of chalconota Oberholser from Brownsville, Texas, a complete over- lap in color is apparent. Oberholser (1898, p. 32) separated chal- conota on the paler under parts, but this distinction is not evident, even on an average, in the specimens before me. Even if larger series should show an average difference, the race cannot be upheld when not one out of four specimens of cerviniventris is distinct from chalconota; and chalconota must become a synonym of cerviniventris. Momotus momota lessonii Lesson Four specimens collected at Ojochico are intermediate between caeruliceps Gould and lessonii but are nearer the latter. Two of U„ OF ILL UB. 272 FIELD IANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 31 them have the whole cap blue as in caeruliceps and the other two have the center of the cap black as in lessonii; all four, however, lack the greenish wash on the forehead characteristic of caeruliceps and are greener, less tawny above. It was undoubtedly an inter- mediate series such as this that led Ridgway to list both forms from Cordoba. These specimens from Ojochico are from within thirty miles of Motzorongo, the type locality of goldmani Nelson. How- ever, I agree with Wetmore (1943, p. 267) in not considering goldmani a valid subspecies. Parus sclateri Kleinschmidt Five specimens from Perote are virtually topotypes of sclateri, type locality Mount Orizaba. When compared with a topotypical series of eidos Peters from the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona they are not separable, and it does not appear that the race eidos can be upheld. There is a great deal of individual variation in both series, particularly in the amount of white below, and, although the Veracruz specimens average less white than those from Arizona, all are within the extremes of the latter series. There is also a single bird from Veracruz that shows as much white as any from Arizona. In cases such as this, where populations exhibit the same range of variation, small average differences between them do not warrant subspecific recognition, and eidos must be placed in the synonymy of sclateri. Henicorhina leucosticta prostheleuca Sclater Comparison of a series of nine topotypes of prostheleuca from Ojochico with birds from Solola and Izabal, Guatemala, shows that the latter definitely belong to the race tropaea Bangs and Peters of Costa Rica. Besides the color differences between the two forms, tropaea may be distinguished from prostheleuca by its much heavier bill, a difference that is readily apparent when the birds are compared but difficult to show by measurements. Birds from Chiapas and Oaxaca also have heavier bills, but in color they agree with typical prostheleuca. Ridgway (1904, p. 610) did not have a juvenal speci- men of this species for description. The following description is taken from juvenals, one of each sex, from Ojochico: Below gray, paler on throat, the gray merging into the brown flanks and belly as in the adult. Above, pileum almost black in the male, dark brown in the female; back reddish brown, less rufous, however, than in the adult; white superciliary and white spotting on head TRAYLOR: VERACRUZ BIRDS 273 less distinct than in the adult; mandible yellow, tipped black. Juvenals of prostheleuca are very similar to juvenals of the allied species H. leucophrys mexicana of the subtropical zone. Nannorchilus leucogaster leucogaster Gould An adult male from Ojochico was collected under peculiar cir- cumstances. It was first flushed from the nest, which was on the tip of a branch about twenty-five feet above the ground. A few minutes later it returned directly to the nest, although my Indian hunter and I were standing in plain sight directly beneath it. The bird was collected at this point, but when shot it dropped into the nest so that we had to cut down the branch to secure it. The nest was empty except for the dead bird, which on dissection proved to be an adult male with inactive testes. Considering the physiological state of the bird and the fact that the date, August 11, is late in the breeding season, this was presumably a dormitory nest, but why the bird should show such persistence in returning to it in the middle of the morning is hard to say. The nest was pendent and domed, with an entrance in the side, and was built of fine rootlets and plant fibers. It measured about six inches in length by four in diameter. The nesting chamber was so deep and the entrance so small that the nest had to be torn apart to retrieve the bird. Catharus mexicanus mexicanus Bonaparte When describing the juvenal plumage of this species, Ridgway (1907, p. 23) had available for description only a bird with a few juvenal feathers remaining. The description given below, taken from a juvenal male from Tezuitlan, altitude 4,500 feet, supplements his : Above, dark olive brown with buff y shaft streaks on the pileum, the shaft streaks becoming broader on the scapulars and inter- scapulars and indistinct on the lower back and rump; the wing coverts tipped with triangular spots of buffy, the rectrices and remiges as in the adult; below, pale buffy, the feathers of the breast heavily margined with dark olive brown, the dark edgings becoming indis- tinct on lower breast and disappearing on belly; whole bill black, legs dusky yellow, not clear yellow as in the adult. Tanagra lauta lauta Bangs and Penard While comparing three males from Ojochico with specimens from other parts of the range of this species, it became evident that birds from the Yucatan Peninsula average considerably smaller 274 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 31 than those from southern Mexico and Guatemala. The comparative measurements were: Five adult males, Yucatan Peninsula: wing 58-60 (59); tail 32- 36.5 (34.2). Ten adult males, southern Mexico to Nicaragua: wing 61-65 (63.5); tail 34.5-42 (37.5). Although there is no overlap in the wing measurements, the averages are so close that separation of a Yucatan race does not seem warranted unless supported by larger series. No females were available from Yucatan. Pipilo ocai X macronyx A male and female from Tezuitlan, altitude 5,500 feet, present more problems in the confused relationship between ocai Lawrence (the torquatus of most authors; see van Rossem, 1940, p. 173) and macronyx Swainson. Ridgway (1886, p. 332) described P. complexus from Tezuitlan and stated that it differed from P. macronyx in having the sides paler rufous and in possessing a white throat patch and rufous nuchal patch. Recent authors have considered this bird a hybrid between torquatus (=ocai) and macronyx. The present male from Tezuitlan, however, shows the same characters as Ridg- way's complexus and possesses in addition white superciliaries and a white median streak on the forehead. The female is closer to macronyx, having the white throat patch and rufous nuchal patch much reduced. The collection of specimens similar to complexus in exactly the same locality after a lapse of sixty years raises the question of whether a population of mixed or hybrid origin has not succeeded in establishing itself as a stable population distinct from both ocai and macronyx. It is a problem similar to that of the race nigrescens Salvin and Godman of Michoacan, which Blake and Hanson (1942, p. 548) have shown to be a stable, well-characterized race at present, however it may have originated. The possibility that the situation of complexus is the same is strengthened by the present distribution of macronyx, which has not, apparently, been recorded from Veracruz. The earliest specimen exhibiting this type of plumage is the type specimen of torquatus du Bus, which van Rossem (loc. cit.) described minutely, and which differs only in slight details from Tezuitlan birds. If, indeed, further collecting shows that this population of ^owhees is worthy of recognition, it will have to bear du Bus' name/ which has many years' priority over Ridgway's. TRAYLOR: VERACRUZ BIRDS 275 REFERENCES Blake, E. R. and Hanson, H. C. 1942. Notes on a collection of birds from Michoacan, Mexico. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 22, pp. 513-551. Griscom, Ludlow 1931. Notes on rare and little known neotropical Pygmy Owls. Proc. New Eng. Zool. CI., 12, pp. 37-43. Meise, Wilhelm 1938. Ueber einige Kolubris der Gattung Agyrtrina Chubb. Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Belg., 14, No. 53, pp. 1-6. Nelson, E. W. and Palmer, T. S. 1894. Descriptions of five new birds from Mexico. Auk, 11, pp. 39-45. Oberholser, H. C. 1898. Description of a new Amazilia. Auk, 15, pp. 32-36. Ridgway, Robert 1886. Preliminary descriptions of some new species of birds from southern Mexico in the collection of the Mexican Geographical and Exploring Com- mission. Auk, 3, pp. 331-333. 1904. Birds of North and Middle America. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 3, pp. 1-801. 1907. Ibid., pt. 4, pp. 1-973. 1914. Ibid., pt. 6, pp. 1-882. VAN ROSSEM, A. J. 1940. Du Bus' type of the Collared Towhee, Pipilo torquatus. Wils. Bull., 52, pp. 173-174. Wetmore, Alexander 1943. The birds of southern Veracruz, Mexico. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 93, pp. 215-340.