OCR Text |
Show 18/0.] MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN ON THE CRACID.E. 539 maccalli, the ends of the tail-feathers are pure white; but in some skins from Vera Cruz they are quite as fulvous as in Guatemalan examples. Again, a skin from Yucatan, obtained by Dr. A. Schott in 1865, is in our opinion quite undistinguishable from the type of 0. maccalli, so that it is not possible to draw a geographical line between the two forms. There is also a certain amount of variation in the ventral plumage in this species, some, particularly those from Vera Cruz, being strongly tinged with rufous. Under these circumstances we are compelled to regard O. vetula as a widely extended and somewhat variable species, ranging from the Rio Grande on the north over the whole Atlantic slope of Central America as far as Honduras on the south. On the Pacific slope it is supplanted by the following species. 14. ORTALIDA LEUCOGASTRA. Penelope albiventer, Less. 1842, p. 174; Gould, Voy. Sulph. Zool. p. 48, t. 31. Penelope leucogaster, Gould, P. Z. S. 1843, p. 105. Ortalida leucogaster, G. R. Gray, List of Gallinae, p. 13 ; Scl. et Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 224; Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 391. Chamcepetes leucogastra, Reich. Tauben, p. 142. Penelopsis leucogastra, Bp. C. R. xiii. p. 877 (1856). Bronzino-olivacea, pileo obscuriore ; capitis lateribus et corpore ad medium pectus plumbeis : abdomine toto pure albo : cauda ceneo-viridi, rectricibus lateralibus albo terminatis: long, tota alee 7'3, cauda? 8, tarsi 2*5. Hab. Realejo, Nicaragua (Lesson) ; Pacific slope of Guatemala (Salvin). This Guan entirely replaces O. vetula on the Pacific slope of Central America, where, however, so far as we know, its range is confined between the frontier of Mexico on the north, and Realejo in Nicaragua on the south. Throughout the Costa Grande of Guatemala Salvin found it very abundant on the mountain-slopes from an elevation of about 3000 feet to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The pure white of the underparts of this species renders it easily distinguishable from its neighbouring ally O. vetula, though in habits no difference was noted. The eggs are white, with the surface somewhat roughened, as in other members of this family. 15. ORTALIDA GARRULA. Phasianus garrulus, Humb. Obs. de Zool. i. p. 4. Penelope garrula, Wagl. Isis, 1830, p. 1111. Ortalida garrula, Wagl. Isis, 1832, p. 1227 ; G. R. Gray, List of Gall. p. 12. Cineracescenti-cenea, pileo rufo : subtus valde dilutior, abdomine albo : remigibus externis castaneis : cauda obscure anea, rectricibus quatuor extimis albo terminatis: long, tota 21, alee 8*5, caudee 9*5, tarsi 2*8. Hab. Coast-region of New Granada, Magdalena valley (Hum- |