Field Museum of Natural History Publication 219 Zoological Series Vol. XII, No. 5 NEW BIRDS FROM CHILE BY C. E. Hellmayr Associate Curator of Birds REPORTS ON RESULTS OF THE CAPTAIN MARSHALL FIELD EXPEDITIONS Wilfred H. Osgood Curator, Department of Zoologjy Chicago, U. S. A. April 19, 1924 NEW BIRDS FROM CHILE BY C. E. HELLMAYR The zoological explorations in Chile by members of the staff of Field Museum have resulted in the accumulation of a considerable col- lection of birds from various parts of the Republic. Besides such rarities as Geositta maritima, Geositta punensis, Cinclodes oustaleti and Aphrastura fulva, the consignments so far received contain several new forms, descriptions of which are here published in advance of a complete report. Scelorchilus albicoUis atacamae subsp. nov. Type from Caldera, province of Atacama, northern Chile. No. 54055 Field Museum of Natural History. Female adult. Collected August 29, 1923 by C. C. Sanborn; original number 591. Adult female. Differs from S. albicoUis albicoUis (Kittlitz), of central Chile, by shorter tail, much more slender bill, and much paler coloration throughout. The back is light brownish gray instead of warm rufescent brown, with the barring of the rump buffy whitish rather than ochraceous-buff ; the rufous of the head much paler and confined to the anterior portion of the crown; the cinnamon-rufous of upper tail, lesser wing and primary coverts, outer web of remiges and tail lighter; the greater upper wing coverts are mostly brownish gray, only the outer ones narrowly edged with pale cinnamomeous ; the under parts more whitish and the flanks paler buff. Wing 74; tail 68; bill 19 mm. , Range. Province of Atacama, northern Chile. Remarks. This strongly marked race evidently replaces the well- known S. albicoUis albicoUis in the arid northern portion of Chile. Pteroptochos albicoUis was originally described by Kittlitz^ from a specimen taken on March 27, 1827, at Valparaiso, where the type of Megalonyx medius Lesson^, published a few years later, likewise was obtained. Six examples secured by C. C. Sanborn at Olmue near Valparaiso, afford excellent topotypical material for comparison, and although the new form, so far, is represented by but a single specimen, its characters are so pronounced that I have no hesitation in separating 1 Memoires Acad. Sci. St. Petersb., (sav. etr.), i, livr. 2, p. 180, pi. 3, 1830. 2 L'Institut, 2, No. 72, p. 316, Sept. 1834. 71 72 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XII. it. It is no doubt the gray-backed form that was recorded, long ago, from the Quebrada de la Encantada, province of Atacama, by A. Philippi^ under the name Pteroptochus albicollis. Geositta cunicularia deserticolor subsp, nov. Type from Caldera, province of Atacama, northern Chile. No. 54072 Field Museum of Natural History. Male adult. Collected August 29, 1923 by C. C. Sanborn; original number 596. Adult. Similar to Geositta cunicularia fissirostris (Kittlitz)^, of central Chile, but very much paler in coloration; upper parts sandy or buflfy gray instead of earthy-brown ; edges to the wing-coverts and tertials buffy whitish instead of sandy buff; cinnamomeous wing-band decidedly paler ; superciliaries and sides of head and neck light creamy rather than bright buff; under parts almost pure white, with just a faint creamy wash across chest and along flanks ; blackish brown edges on chest much less pronounced ; axillars, under wing coverts, and quill- lining conspicuously paler ; basal half of rectrices much paler cinnamon. Wing (male) 87; (female) 89; tail 49; bill I7J4, 18^ mm. Range. Arid littoral of northern Chile, in province of Atacama. Remarks. Two specimens obtained by C. C. Sanborn at Caldera, littoral of province of Atacama, differ strikingly, by their pale desert- like coloration, from G. c. fissirostris, the common Miner of central Chile. The characters are just in keeping with those which the arid nature of the habitat would lead one to expect. G. c. fissirostris, repre- sented in Field Museum by an excellent series of twenty skins, ranges, without any appreciable change, from Concepcion north to the southern border of the province of Atacama. Of two specimens taken in August at Domeyko, 63 kilom. south of Vallenar, one is practically indistinguish- able from certain Maule birds, while the other by slightly paler earthy- brown upper parts, just suggests an approach to the pale northern race. In the pale cinnamon basal half of the tail, G. c. deserticolor resembles G. c. frobeni (Phil, & Land.)', from the high Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia, but besides being smaller, differs from it by sandy gray (instead of reddish earthy-brown) upper parts, much paler and more whitish wing-markings, whitish (not bright buff) sides of head *Reise Wiiste Atacama, p. 162, i860; Ornis, 4, p. 159, 1888. ' Alanda fissirostris Kittlitz, Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb., (sav. etr.), 2, p. 468, Vogel Chile, pi. 3, Aug. 1835 — Valparaiso, Chile (type in Petrograd Museum examined). * Certhilauda Frobeni Philippi & Landbeck, Arch. Naturg., 31 (i), p. 62, 1865 — Putre, alt. 10,000 ft., s.w. Peru. April, 1924. New Birds from Chile — Hellmayr. 73 and under surface, with the dusky chest-stripes decidedly more devel- oped, and especially by having the upper tail coverts sandy gray like the back instead of buffy-white. Muscisaxicola rufivertex sanborni subsp. nov. Type from Romero, province of Coquimbo, Chile. No. 54065 Field Museum of Natural History. Male adult. Collected July 19, 1923 by C. C. Sanborn ; original number 487. Adult. Similar to M. rufivertex rufivertex Laf resnaye & d'Orbigny, from Antofogasta, northern Chile, but easily distinguishable by having the crown-patch much darker, hazel instead of cinnamon. Besides, the upper parts are, as a rule, somewhat darker, while the bill is on the average slightly slenderer. Wing (six adult males) 105-110; tail 73/^-77; bill 163/^-19 mm. Range. Chile, from southern Atacama (Domeyko, 63 kilom. south of Vallenar) south to Santiago and Colchagua, and adjacent portion of central western Argentina (Mendoza). , Remarks. This well-marked race is the southern representative of Muscisaxicola rufivertex Lafr. & d'Orb.^, of northern Chile and northwestern Bolivia. The species was originally based on specimens from Cobija, northern Chile and La Paz, Bolivia. On reexamining d'Orbigny's series in the Paris Museum, I discovered that the bird from the last named locality was referable to M. occipitalis Ridgw. ; but, as pointed out elsewhere, the original description having obviously been taken from the Chilean examples, I formerly designated^ Cobija as type locality. Three birds secured by C. C. Sanborn on the Rio Loa, Antofogasta are, therefore, practically topotypes of M. r. rufivertex. With these, five others from twenty miles east of San Pedro, alt. 12,600 ft., province of Antofogasta, agree in every respect. Previously I had examined six Bolivian specimens, four from Sajama, Dept. Oruro, in the Berlepsch Collection, two from Potosi, in the Berlin Museum, and found them to agree with Cobija birds. A single adult male from the Cerro Muiioz, province of Tucuman, also appears to belong to typical rufivertex. The range of the typical race with cinnamon crown-patch is thus seen to comprise the North Chilean provinces Tacna, Tarapaca and Antofogasta; Western Bolivia (Depts. Oruro and Potosi) ; and northwestern Argentina (province of Tucu- man, and probably also Salta and Jujuy). *Syn. Av. i in Mag. Zool., 7, cl. 2, p. 66, 1837. 2 Arch. Naturg., 85, A. Heft 10, p. 47, footnote i, 1920. 74 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XII. Six specimens from Romero (near La Serena), province of Co- quimbo, an adult female from Domeyko, in the southern part of the province of Atacama, as well as a number of skins from the vicinity of Santiago, and an adult male from the foot of the Sierra de Men- doza, previously examined by me, differ so markedly by their much darker crown-patch that their subspecific separation seems desirable. Troglodytes musculus atacamensis subsp. nov. Type from Rio Loa, province of Antofogasta, Chile. No. 54090 Field Museum of Natural History. Male adult. Collected September 12, 1923 by C. C. Sanborn; original number 618. Adult. Similar to Troglodytes musculus chilensis Lesson^, from central Chile, but with decidedly slenderer, also somewhat longer bill, and of much paler coloration; pileum and back pale grayish brown, (sometimes with a slight rufescent tinge), instead of dark smoke- brown; rump and upper tail coverts lighter rufous; wings less rufes- cent, tail paler; under parts paler isabelline with throat and middle of abdomen more whitish, flanks and under tail coverts lighter ochra- ceous. Similar also to Troglodytes musculus tecellatus Lafr. & d'Orb.^ from province of Tacna, particularly above, but easily distinguished by brighter rufous rump, pale rufescent instead of grayish brown tail, more isabelline, less whitish under parts with deeper ochraceous flanks and crissum, and by lacking all trace of blackish bars on either back or upper tail coverts. Wing (male) 51-54, (female) 50; tail 43-47; bill 133/2-14/^ rnm. Range. Arid districts of northern Chile, in provinces of Atacama and Antofogasta, from the Rio Loa south to the valley of Copiapo. Remarks. This interesting discovery, which adds another to the already long list of geographical races of the musculus-group, forms a connecting link between the common House-wren of Central Chile, and the exceedingly pale T. m. tecellatus with strongly barred upper parts, found in the extreme north of Chile and the adjacent Peruvian province of Moquegua. In shape and length of bill as well as in the pale grayish brown ground color of pileum and back, T. m. atacamensis agrees with the Tacna bird, but has no trace of barring above, is more rufous on the rump and tail, and darker, less whitish underneath. The 1 Troglodytes chilensis Lesson, Voyage "Coquille," Zool., i, (2), p. 66$, April 1830 — La Concepcion, Chile (see Hellmayr, Nov. Zool., 28, p.275, note 3, 1921). 2 Troglodytes tecellata Lafresnaye & d'Orbigny, Syn. Av. i in Mag. Zool., 7, cl. 2, p. 25, 1837 — Tacna, n. Chile (type in Paris Museum examined). April, 1924. New Birds from Chile — Hellmayr. 75 new form is based on seven specimens taken at Rio Loa, province of Antofogasta, and Caldera and Ramadilla, Copiapo valley, province of Atacama. T. m. chilensis, of which Field Museum has a very satis- factory series of more than thirty specimens from Valparaiso down to the Guaiteca Islands, including several topotypes from Concepcion, is very much darker above and below, and has a stouter, shorter bill. Examples from the province of Valparaiso (Olmue) approach the new form in shape of bill, but in no other respect.