LI B R.ARY OF THE U N IVER.SITY Of ILLINOIS 590-5 FX V.3L Cop. 5 NATURAL historv mm NATURAL HISTORY SURVt llPR*f?Y FIELDIANA • ZOOLOGY Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Volume 31 December 30, 1948 No. 24 NEW BIRDS FROM PERU AND ECUADOR Melvin A. Traylor, Jr. Rksearch Associate, Division of Birds The following new forms were discovered in the course of identi- fying a collection made by Jose" M. Schunke in 1946 in Yarinacocha, just north of Pucalpa, on the Rio Ucayali, Loreto, Peru. All measure- ments are in millimeters. The wing measurements were made by flattening the wing; the bill measurements are the length of the culmen from the base, unless otherwise stated. Amazona farinosa chapmani subsp. nov. Type. — Chicago Natural History Museum No. 77395, from Sara- yacu, Rio Bobonaza, eastern Ecuador, altitude 350 meters. Adult male, collected December 20, 1930, by Olalla and Sons. Diagnosis. — Much larger than A. f. farinosa and A. f. inornata; similar to the latter in not having any yellow feathers on the crown. Range. — Eastern Ecuador and eastern Bolivia. Measurements.— Three males: wing 259-278 (270); tail 148-158 (152); culmen (from cere) 38-42 (40). Three females: wing 255-269 (263); tail 141-145 (142); culmen (from cere) 40-41 (40). Measurements of farinosa and inornata show no differences and are lumped here for comparison with chapmani. Five males: wing 229-242 (236.4); tail 126-145 (131); culmen (from cere) 37-39 (37.6). Four females: wing 229-245 (237); tail 123-135 (130); culmen (from cere) 34-43 (38). Remarks. — Chapman (op. cit., p. 262) called attention to the fact that specimens from eastern Ecuador were larger than Pana- manian and Colombian specimens of inornata, but hesitated to separate them because of lack of comparative material from the interior of Brazil. However, wing measurements published by Gyldenstolpe (1945, K. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl., Bd. 22, No. 3, p. 58) of birds from central Brazil vary from 242 to 245, and those birds belonged variously to farinosa and inornata. No. 619 195 THE LIBRARY OF THE FEB 4 - 1949 Library t„vr,„ ,,.,.„. ; 196 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 31 Birds from eastern Peru would be expected to belong to the race chapmani; three birds from Yarinacocha, Rio Ucayali, however, have wings 240-245 and must be placed in inornata. This gives the race chapmani a discontinuous range and indicates that the Ecuadorean and Bolivian populations are probably of independent origin. Nevertheless both populations are clearly separable on size from the surrounding and intervening race inornata, but are in- separable from each other. The only way to express their morpho- logical characters in the nomenclature is to include them in the same subspecies, although this obscures their independent origin. The character that separates the other two races, farinosa and inornata, is the presence of yellow feathers on the crown of the former. This character is highly variable and is not definitive for the identification of single specimens. One of two females from British Guiana, within the accepted range of farinosa, has a few yellow feathers on the crown; the other has none. Two of three males from Zulia, western Venezuela, within the accepted range of inornata, have one or more yellow feathers; only one is plain. Even a male from Panama, the type locality of inornata, has a single yellow feather on the crown. Although birds from French Guiana and northeastern Brazil may be consistent in their possession of yellow crowns and so justify the separation of the races, the character is not definitive for individual birds among the specimens I have examined. Specimens Examined A. f. farinosa: British Guiana, 2 females. A. f. inornata: Panama, 1 male; Venezuela, Zulia, 3 males; western Ecuador, 1 male; Peru, Yarinacocha, 1 male (molting), 2 females. A.f. chapmani: Ecuador, Sarayacu, 1 male (type), 2 females; Bolivia, Dept. Santa Cruz, 2 males, 1 female. Donacobius atricapillus nigrodorsalis subsp. nov. Type.— Chicago Natural History Museum No. 185696, from Yarinacocha, Rio Ucayali, Peru. Adult male, collected May 2, 1946, by Jose" M. Schunke. Original number 592. Diagnosis. — Much darker on back and rump than the nominate race from Brazil and the Guianas, the black of the head merging into the back without any perceptible line of demarcation; averages slightly larger. [Differs in the same characters but to a greater degree from the pale race brachypterus of northern Colombia. Lacks 14- TRAYLOR: BIRDS FROM PERU AND ECUADOR 197 the white line on the side of the nape, characteristic of albo-vittatus of Bolivia, and is darker above than that form. /frmgre.— Apparently confined to the Ucayali Valley in Peru. Measurements. — Four males (including type) : wing 87-90 (88.3) ; tail 103-111 (107); culmen 27-28 (27.5); tarsus 35-36.5 (35.9). One female: wing 80; tail 96; culmen 26; tarsus 30.5. Remarks.— Hellmayr (1934, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 13, pt. 7, p. 349, ftn. 2) remarked that "three specimens from Peru are perhaps slightly more blackish above than the average from Brazil and Guiana," but he considered that this was probably be- cause the Peruvian birds were in fresher plumage. His specimens were from the confluence of the Ucayali and the Maranon, and were probably intermediates between the nominate race and nigrodorsalis. The species is evidently uncommon on the Ucayali, since a single record of Berlepsch from Sarayacu (1889, Jour. Orn., 37, p. 292) is apparently the only other published occurrence of this bird above the mouth of the river. In the Maracaibo basin, Zulia, Venezuela, there is a population of D. atricapillus that may also be distinguishable. Hellmayr (I.e.) referred specimens to brachypterus, but they are considerably darker than that form, and are practically inseparable from the nominate race. This population, however, is unique in that the males are only slightly larger than the females instead of about 10 per cent larger. The following table shows the range of size in our specimens. Wing Tail Culmen Tarsus D. a. subsp Zulia 3c? 75-79 (77) 93-99 (96) 25-26 (25.3) 30-32 (31) 49 74-77 (75.3) 86-92 (89) 23-25 (24) 28-30 (29.5) atricapillus 12 c? 81-88 (85.2) 96-107 (104) 24-27 (26.3) 30-35 (33.2) Brazil, Guiana , 49 76-78 (76.8) 90-96 (92.3) 24-26 (25) 29-32 (30.8) brachypterus 3c? 81-87 (84.3) 102-105 (103.5) 26-27 (26.5) 33-34 (33.3) Colombia 19 75 94 24 32 nigrodorsalis .... 4c? 87-90 (88.3) 103-111 (107) 27-28 (27.5) 85-36.5 (35.9) Peru 19 80 96 26 30.5 Specimens Examined D. a. atricapillus. — Paraguay: Chaco, Fortin Orihuelas, 1 male. Brazil: Matto Grosso, Descalvados, 1 female; Sao Paulo, Aracatuba, 1 male; Goyaz, Phila- delphia, 1 male; Maranhao, Tury-assu, 1 male; Ponto, 1 male, 1 female; Amazonas, Serpa, 1 male; Serra da Lua, 1 male. British Guiana: Buxton, 3 males, 2 females; Georgetown, 1 male, 1 female. Venezuela: Porto Cabello, 1 male; Zulia, Encantrados, 4 males, 3 females; Rio Catetumba, 1 female. 198 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 31 D. a. brachypterus. — Colombia: Antioqula, Sucio, 1 male; Choro, Rio Atrato, 1 female; Magdalena, Fundacion, 1 male, 1 female. D. a. nigrodor salts. — Peru: Loreto, Yarinacocha, 5 males, 1 female. D. a. albo-vittatus. — Bolivia: Santa Cruz, Rio Surutu, 2 females. Molothrus bonariensis nigricans subsp. nov. Type. — Chicago Natural History Museum No. 153992, from Yarinacocha, Rio Ucayali, Peru. Adult female, 'collected February 25, 1946, by Jose* M. Schunke. Diagnosis. — Female : differs from the females of all other described races in being uniform black, with a faint blue gloss on head and back and a faint green gloss on wings and tail; lacks entirely the warm fuscous that characterizes even the darkest "melanogyna" females from southeastern Brazil. Male: similar to less brightly colored individuals of bonariensis with the purple of the back not extending over the rump, which is steel blue, and the purple below not covering the belly; much less reddish purple than cabanisii and venezuelensis and somewhat less reddish purple than occidentalis of western Peru, in which the female is light streaked brown. Both sexes about the same size as riparius, somewhat smaller than bonariensis. Range.— Known only from the type locality. Measurements. — One adult male: wing 111; tail 88; culmen 21. Four immature males: wing 103-110 (107); tail 78-85 (82.5); culmen 20-22 (21). One adult female: wing 106; tail 82; culmen 20 (the other, adult female, the type, has wings and tail in molt). Remarks. — These birds are the first records of this species for tropical Peru, east of the Andes; the nearest localities in western Brazil for which there are published records are Sao Paulo do Olivenca on the Rio Solimoes and Joao Pessoa on the upper Rio Jurua. Birds from western Brazil have been called bonariensis by Hellmayr (1937, op. cit., pt. 10, p. 59) and riparius Griscom and Green way by Gyldenstolpe (op. cit., p. 298). The latter race, named from the lower Amazon, is intermediate in size between minimus of the Guianas and typical bonariensis, and the females differ from bonariensis in being sootier, less fuscous, and in being darker above and paler below, with the chin and throat abruptly paler than the chest. Gyldenstolpe extended the range of this form to the Rio Jurua solely on the basis of the size of the males, since he had no females. The males of {nigricans seem to be closer in size to riparius, but the pattern of the females is entirely different, being a uniform sooty TRAYLOR: BIRDS FROM PERU AND ECUADOR 199 black below. Hellmayr (op. cit., p. 63) has ably summed up the variations in the females of this species and has shown that there are light and dark color phases, the percentages of which seem to vary with locality. The uniform black females of nigricans, how- ever, are unlike any specimens I have seen or found described in the literature, and are worthy of separation. Specimens Examined M. b. bonariensis. — Chile: 4 males, 4 females. Argentina: 12 males, 1 female. Bolivia: 16 males, 2 females. Uruguay: 7 males, 9 females. Paraguay: 5 males, 3 females. Brazil: Parana, 2 males, 2 females; Santa Catherina, 1 male; Sao Paulo, 1 male, 1 female; Minas Geraes, 1 male; Bahia, 1 male, 1 female; Ceara, 3 males; Piauhy, 2 males; Maranhao, 1 female. M. b. riparins. — Brazil: Para, Rio Tapajoz, 1 male. M. b. minimus. — Tobago: 1 male. British Guiana: Buxton, 5 males, 2 females; Georgetown, 1 female. M. b. venezuelensis. — Venezuela: Maracay, Aragua, 1 male, 1 female; Merida, Rio Chama, 1 male, 1 female; Caracas, 1 male. M. b. cabanisii. — Colombia: Bolivar, Lorica, 1 male, 1 female; Cauca, Miraflores, 1 male, 1 female; Rio Barratau, 1 male; "Bogata," 1 female. M. b. occidentalis. — Peru: Libertad, Hacienda Llagueda, 3 males, 4 females. M. b. nigricans. — Peru: Loreto, Yarinacocha, 5 males, 2 females. Micrastur buckleyi Swann Micrastur melanoleucus buckleyi Swann, 1919, Syn. List Ace, subst. p. 15 — Sarayacu, Ecuador. Measurements. — One male, wing 209; tail 228; tarsus 55; culmen 16. Remarks. — When Swann described Micrastur buckleyi he con- sidered it a race of melanoleucus (= semitorquatus) , and his original description reads in part, "Much smaller, wing, d" (?) 8.60 in.; tarsi and feet much smaller and weaker . . . ." Sufficient specimens are now at hand, however, to show that M. buckleyi is a distinct species whose range — eastern Ecuador and northeastern Peru — is within the range of the species semitorquatus. It seems to be identical in color with semitorquatus but is smaller, with a proportionately much shorter tarsus. Chapman (1926, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 55, p. 221) listed four males of M. melanoleucus buckleyi from eastern Ecuador and gave their wing measurements. Two of the specimens had normal wings for melanoleucus (= semitorquatus) , 245 and 247, but the other two were much smaller, 213 and 215, within the range of Swann's 200 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 31 buckleyi, 8.60 in. (=217 mm.). Through the kindness of Mr. J. T. Zimmer, of the American Museum of Natural History, I have the tarsal measurements of the two smaller birds, 62 and 55.5, respec- tively, as well as the corrected wing measurements, 215 and 219, made by flattening the wing. The following table summarizes these measurements and compares them to eleven males of semitorquatus from Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Wing Tarsus Culmen Wing/ Tarsus buckleyi (3) 209-219 (214) (3) 55-62 (57.5) (1) 16 (3) 3.7 semitorquatus. (11) 237-257 (247) (11) 82-91 (87) (11) 19-21 (20) (11) 2.8 No females of buckleyi are known, but the measurements for ten females of semitorquatus are wing 257-281 (267); tarsus 82-94 (89.4); culmen 20-23 (21.6); wing/tarsus 3.0. The above table shows that buckleyi is not only smaller than semitorquatus in all dimensions but that it has proportionately a much shorter tarsus. Consequently buckleyi cannot be either a race of semitorquatus, since it shares the same range, nor small aberrant individuals of that species, because of the difference in proportions. It must be a valid species in its own right. Localities from which it has been collected are Sarayacu (type locality), Rio Suno, and San Jos£, Ecuador; and Yarinacocha, Peru.