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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.

PUBLICATION 193.
ZOOLOGICAL SERIES. VOL. XII, No. i.

NOTES ON LITTLE KNOWN SPECIES OF

SOUTH AMERICAN BIRDS WITH

DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW

SUBSPECIES

BY

CHARLES B. CORY
Curator of Department of Zoology.

CHICAGO, U. S. A.

January 25, 1917.

"TVpr

v ' '*

NOTES ON LITTLE KNOWN SPECIES OF SOUTH

AMERICAN BIRDS WITH DESCRIPTIONS

OF NEW SUBSPECIES.

BY CHARLES B. CORY.

Nyctipolus hirundinaceus hirundinaceus (Spix.).

Caprimulgus hirundinaceus Spix, Av. Brasil, II, 1825, p. 2, pi. Hi,

fig. i, ("in sylvis fl. Solimoens").
Nyctipolus hirundinaceus Oberholser, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 86,

1914, p. 97 in text.

The history of this little known species may be briefly stated as
follows:

Spix described the bird which he claimed to have taken "in sylvis
fl. Solimoens" the old name for that part of the Amazon River
from the mouth of the Rio Negro to the Maranon and Ucayali. The
type specimen is still preserved in Munich, and according to Hellmayr*,
it is labeled "Caprimulgus hirundinaces Sp. Amazon Str. Spix." For
many years it was considered to be the same as Chordeiles acutipennis
(Bodd.), the name being included in the synonomy of that species,
but in 1906 Hellmayr (I.e.) corrects the error and states that it is a
well-marked species which approaches nearest to Setopagis parvulus
(Gould), and in addition to Spix's type he examined three skins from
the Vienna Museum (which were purchased by Natterer in 1840 from
dealers in London and Liverpool, and labeled "Bahia") and (in foot-
note) says he also examined a series of specimens of this species which
were collected by Reiser in Bahia and Piauhy, and that the Tring
Museum possesses a specimen which undoubtedly came from Bahia.
He therefore concludes that there is no doubt the species is an in-
habitant of eastern Brazil and that the type locality given by Spix
is wrong.

In addition to a very full description of the type specimen Hellmayr
gives an illustration of the four outer primaries and according to both
illustration and description, the three outer primaries have no white
on the outer webs.

* Abh. k. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., Munchen, XXII, 1906, p. 636

3

4 FIELD MUSEUM or NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XII.

The Field Museum collection contains ten specimens from the
State of Ceara and three from the State of Bahia, which are subspecies
of N. hirundinaceus, and the specimens from Ceara are nearer in general
coloration to Spix's colored plate of the species than those from Bahia.
Accepting without question that the illustration and description of
the white markings on the outer primaries of the type specimen, as
given by Hellmayr, is correct, we have three well-marked forms, which
may be recognized at once by the different white markings on the outer
primaries, and birds from Ceara also differ from Bahia specimens in
somewhat paler coloration, the belly more rufous (especially in females),
and the decidedly less strongly banded lower belly and ventral region.
In N. hirundinaceus hirundinaceus (Spix) there is no white on the outer
webs of (at least) the first and second outer primaries. In N. h. crissalis
(Cory) only the outer primary has the outer web without a white
patch, the second primary has the white bar on both webs, but the
shaft is black. In birds from Ceara all the outer primaries have the
white patch extending across both webs and the shafts of the feathers
in the white areas are white (not black). These differences (although
the white areas vary somewhat in shape and size) are constant in all
the ten specimens from Ceara and in the three from Bahia. The
form from the Province of Ceara being undescribed, I propose to
name it —

Nyctipolus hirundinaceus cearae subsp. nov.

Type from Quixada, Ceara, Brazil. Male, No. 47170, Field
Museum of Natural History. Collected by Robert H. Becker, June 20,

Similar to the male of AT. h. crissalis Cory, but the general plumage
somewhat paler, the belly more rufous (especially in females), and the
black bands on the lower belly narrower and less distinctly marked;
all outer primaries with white band crossing both webs, the shafts of
the feathers in the white areas being white.

Wing, 120; tail, 90 mm.

We have therefore three forms:

(1) N. h. hirundinaceus (Spix). Type locality? Upper Amazon?

(2) N. h. crissalis (Cory). Type locality Rio de Peixe, near
Queimados, Bahia.

(3) N. h. cearae Cory. Type locality Quixada, Ceara.

There seems to be a gradual regional diminution in extent of the
white markings on the primaries of this species from north to south.
In specimens from Ceara the white areas are most pronounced. In
those from the interior of Bahia they are less so, and from the fact

JAN. 1917. NOTES ON SOUTH AMERICAN BIRDS — CORY. 5

that Hellmayr has seen specimens from "Bahia" which agree with
Spix's type in the absence of white on three outer primaries, it would
seem logical to assume that it came from a region still farther south,
possibly from the vicinity of Ouro Preto in southern Minas Geraes
(where Spix stayed for about two months from the last of February
until May, 1818) or from the region of Rio de Janeiro (Spix, July to
December, 1817) or Ypanema or S. Paulo (Spix, January, 1818).

Four outer primaries of:

I. Nyctipolus hirundinaceus hirundinaceus (Spix), from drawing and descrip-
tion of Spix's type given by Hellmayr (I.e.).

a. Nyclipolus h. crissalis (Cory). Shafts of feathers in white areas black.
3. Nyctipolus h. cearac Cory. Shafts of feathers in white areas white.

Setopagis (Caprimulgus) parvulus (Gould) may be distinguished at
a glance from any of the forms of S. hirundinaceus by its darker plumage
and the conspicuous black and white (sometimes black and buff)
scapulars (see Hellmayr, i.e., Tab. 2). The pattern of the white
markings on the primaries approaches nearest to that of 5. h. crissalis
but in parvulus these areas are much larger and two specimens from
Matto Grosso (c? and 9 ) have two buff spots on the inner web of the
outer primary instead of one white one. In addition to other characters
males of 5. parvulus have a patch of white on the ends of four outer
tail feathers instead of on only the two outer feathers as in N. hirun-
dinaceus (see Hellmayr, i.e., p. 637, illustrations).

Although genetically distinct from Chordeiles acutipennis, N.
hirundinaceus has a superficial resemblance to that species, but in
addition to many other differences the conspicuously longer wing
(wing of C. acutipennis averaging 35 mm. longer than that of N. hirun-
dinaceus) will distinguish it at a glance.

6 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XII.

Speotyto cunicularia grallaria (Temminck).

Judging from Temminck's description and plate * and the unsatis-
factory description by Spix ** the type of 5. grallaria approaches
nearest in size and coloration to specimens of Speotyto from Sao Paulo,
Brazil. Birds from that region have the front and sides of the tarsus
fully feathered (as shown in Temminck's plate) but not nearly so
thickly as in birds from Argentina and Chile, and decidedly less sparsely
feathered than in birds from Bahia. Hellmayr f examined a specimen
supposed to have been secured by the Spix expedition and labeled
"Athene grallaria Tern. Cunicularia L. (?) Brazilien," and he states
that while it approached nearer to birds from the Rio Verde (Minas
Geraes) than to those from Ypiranga, Sao Paulo, it differed in some ways
from both. There appears to be no certainty as to where the supposed
Spix specimen was taken, or, in fact, that it represented true S. gral-
laria, and as the type of that species seems to have been lost, I propose
"Minas Geraes" (the first locality mentioned by Spix) as the type
locality for grallaria. The type localities and supposed distribution
of the southeastern and southern forms of 5. cunicularia will therefore
be as follows:

Speotyto cunicularia cunicularia (Molina). (Chile) Tarsus thickly
feathered (except at the back); dark markings paler; wing (females)
averaging 184; tail averaging about 93 mm. Range: Chile, Argentina,
Patagonia, and Uruguay.

Speotyto cunicularia grallaria (Temminck). (Minas Geraes, Brazil)
Tarsus fully feathered (except at the back) but decidedly less thickly
than in 5. c. cunicularia; brown markings darker; wing (females) averag-
ing 175, tail about 82 mm. Range: Southern Brazil (Minas Geraes,
Sao Paulo, Parana, and perhaps somewhat farther south) and Paraguay.

Speotyto cunicularia beckeri Cory. (Sao Marcello, Rio Preto, Bahia,
Brazil) Tarsus very sparsely feathered, the lower portion being prac-
tically bare; brown markings decidedly darker than in S. c. grallaria
and heavier and more extensive below; forehead white (width about

7 mm.); wing (females) averaging about 168, tail about 75 mm.
Range: Bahia and probably Goyaz and Paiuhi and perhaps farther
north and west.

Scardafella squammata cearae subsp. nov.

Type from Quixada, Ceara, Brazil. Adult male, No. 45330, Field
Museum of Natural History. Collected by R. H. Becker, June 21, 1913.

* PI. Col. ii, 1822, pi. 146.

** Av. Bras., i, 1824, p. 21.

t Abh. k. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., Munchen, XXII, 1906, p. 574.

JAN. 1917. NOTES ON SOUTH AMERICAN BIRDS — CORY. 7

Similar to S. s. squammata from Bahia, with bases of outer webs of
outer primaries without rufous, but breast and throat paler and shading
to white on upper throat; chin pure white.

Wing, 95; tail, 103; bill, 12 mm.

Scardafella r. brasiliensis Beebe (Zoologica, I, No. i, 1907, p. 21)
comes very close to being a nomen midum, although he had but one
Brazilian specimen (from Bahia) and scattered throughout the paper
are various references to it, including measurements (in the table of
measurements) and a plate, but luckily the question of nomenclature
is not important, as the supposed type being from Bahia the name is
antedated by 5. squammata squammata (Lesson).

Leptoptila ochroptera approximans subsp. nov.

Type from Serra Baturite, Ceara, Brazil. Female, No. 46922,
Field Museum of Natural History. Collected by R. H. Becker,
July 19, 1913.

Similar to L. o. ochroptera of southern and eastern Brazil, but
differs chiefly in its much more pale brown (almost vinaceous brown
and not at all olive) back, rump, and upper tail coverts. Size about
that of females of L. o. ochroptera.

Piaya cayana venczuelensis Cory*

This form is apparently restricted to the low heavily forested
region south of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela, and is readily
distinguished from P. c. columbiana by its chestnut bay upper parts
and generally darker coloration and from P. C. cayana by the conspicu-
ous rusty brown coloration on the under surface of the rectrices and
other differences.

|-'$ Reference to the difference in coloration of the under surface of
the rectrices was inadvertently omitted in my original description of
the subspecies when comparing it with P. c. cayana.

* Described in Field Mus. Pub., No. 167, Orn. Ser. I, 1913, p. 284 (Orope,
Venezuela).

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