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Show 173 2. ORUBITINGA " GUXDLACHI » . ' Morphnu* urubitinga CUVIER", LEMBEYE, Aves de Cuba, 1850, 14, pi. iii, fig. 3.- MARCH, Pr. Ao. Nat. Soi. Phi lad. 1863, 3 ( Jamaica). Hupomorphnus gundlachi CAD AN is, Jouro. fiir Orn. 1854, pi. lxxx.- BREWER, Pr. Boston Soc. N. H. vii, 1860, p. - ( Cuba).- ! FINSCH, P. Z. 8. 1870, 554 ( Trinidad).- GUNDL. Journ. fiir Orn. 1* 71, 365, V'A* tur* nicinctu*" L£ OT. Ois. Trinidad, 1866, 44. Vrabitinga anfkracina ( part) SIIARPE, Cat. Aoc. Brit. Mas. 1874, 215. Hob.- Cuba. ( Also Jamaica and Trinidad ?). This bird has been referred by Mr. Sharpe to U. anthracina, but we tbiok without sufficient reason for so doing. It seems ta be really a good species, bat quite uearly related to the continental one. According to Dr. Finsch ( I. c.) " the whole plumage is dark brownish- black; the feathers on the upper part of the interscapulium are rufous at the base; the upper and under tail- coverts are margined narrowly with white; the tail has a broad white cross- band, above this is another much narrower and not quite complete, a third, still narrower, and ill- defined, is placed at the base and hidden by the tail- coverts; the tail- feathers are tipped with white; the under surface of the wings shows a white space formed by the white basal third of the first four primaries, but this white is speckled very minutely with grayish- black, as in H. anthraoinus; the secondaries bear in the middle portion of the inner web six or seven cross- bands of pale rufous- brown, somewhat ill- defined, and mixed and washed with dark brown, giving a somewhat marmorated appearance." He adds that it is " closely related to H. anthracinm Licht., but may be easily distinguished by the two white bands on the base of the tail, besides the white middle cross- band." The difference iu the markings of the tail are quite sufficient to separate this bird from U. anthraeinay at least as a geographical race, since of the very numerous individuals we have examined not one had any white bands aeross the tail anterior to the middle zone, other than faint indications, usually on the inner webs, in a very few exceptional cases. It seems, however, to be scarcely distinct specifically, but the descriptions are hardly concise enough to settle the question. |