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Show 580 DR. o. FINSCH ON T H E BIRDS OF TRINIDAD. [June 23, 75. THRAUPIS CANA (Sw.). Tanagra cana, Scl. Mon. p. 232, Cat. Am. B. p. 75; Taylor, I. c. p. 82. Tanagra glauca, Leot. (nee Sparrm.), p. 293. Two specimens, not differing from one from Brazil in the Bremen collection. Long. al. 3" 5'" 3 6 3 4 3 10 caud. 2" 3'" 2 4 2 3 2 8 rostr. 6'" 6 6 '•ji °2 tars. 9'" 9 H 10 (Trinidad.) (Brazil.) (glaucocolpa, Venezuela.) (cyanoptera, Brazil.) In the Catalogue of Dr. Sclater's collection (p. 75) there is noticed from Trinidad Tanagra glaucocolpa, Cab. (Mus. Hein. p. 28), which is not mentioned by Dr. Leotaud. W e possess a specimen of Thraupis glaucocolpa from Venezuela (Baranquilla); Cabanis notices this species from Caraccas. Its nearest ally is Th. cyanoptera, Vieill., but it is much smaller; breast and sides of the belly bright ultramarine- blue, the coverts of the primaries (in Cabanis's description erroneously described as "alula spuria") dark greenish blue, forming a well-defined mark on the wing; under tail-coverts dirty white. Th. ccelestis, Spix (Av. Bras. ii. t. 55. f. 2), is by no means the same as Th. episcopus, L., as Cabanis suggests, but is a well-marked species, easily distinguished by the broad white apices of the tectrices of the secondaries, forming a white band across the wing. Dr. Sclater has already corrected this in his valuable Monograph. Th. serioptera, Sw. (An. in Menag. p. 313; Cab. M . H. p. 28), from Demerara, is undoubtedly the same as Th. episcopus, L., as the accurate description of Brisson (Episcopus avis) shows. We possess this species also from Demerara. 76. THRAUPIS PALMARUM (Neuwied). Thraupis olivascens, Licht. Thraupis melanoptera, Hartl. Thraupis palmarum et melanoptera, Scl. Mon. pp. 234, 235. Thraupis melanoptera, Taylor, I. c. p. 82. Thraupis olivascens, Leot. p. 295. Three specimens. Dr. Sclater and Von Pelzeln are of opinion that T. melanoptera may be only a local variety of T. palmarum, having inspected intermediate forms from Bolivia and Trinidad (Sclater). Having before me ten specimens from Brazil, Trinidad, Guiana, and Peru, I am not able to find out any constant difference, and must declare them all to be identical, although there exist some differences. The Brazilian bird has the remiges broadly edged externally with dull olive; in the Peruvian specimen (type of T. melanoptera) only a slight sign of these olive edgings is visible. These two birds seem to belong to two well-distinguished species. But there are other specimens from Demerara and Trinidad so intermediate in this respect that one cannot |
