LT> > "LI E> RAR.Y OF THL U N IVERSITY Of ILLI NOIS S90-S FI V-34 BIOLOGY Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. University of Illinois Library OfC 4 i 5 I"* ~* Bt DEC 7 |< 066 1367 L161 O-1096 FIELDIANA . ZOOLOGY Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Volume 34 JUNE 11, 1952 No. 3 Notes on Birds from the Marcapata Valley Cuzco, Peru MELVIN A. TRAYLOR, JR. RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, DIVISION OF BIRDS The following notes are based on further small collections of birds from the Marcapata Valley, Cuzco, Peru, recently sent to Chicago Natural History Museum by Sr. Celestino Kalinowski. Although no new forms are included, there are several species showing considerable extension of range, or other points of taxonomic interest. All measurements are in millimeters, the wings are measured flat and the culmen is measured from the base. Tinamus osgoodi Conover Since the original description of Tinamus osgoodi (Conover, 1949, p. 263), additional specimens have been received from Kali- nowski so that at present a series of four males, seven females, and one downy young is available for study. Besides the downy young, one of the four males is immature, retaining the whitish spots on the wing coverts and inner secondaries. There is some individual variation within the series. Conover described the greater upper wing coverts of the type as "dusky brown, with almost obsolete blackish vermiculations." This is the condition in six of the ten adults, but in the other four these coverts are blackish slate like the back. This variation is not correlated with either sex or age. There appears to be a slight tendency toward partial albinism in the species. Two females and one male have white edgings on a few scattered feathers of the under parts; one male has a scattering of pure white feathers on the throat, and another has a patch of white feathers below the auriculars. Measurements of the adults show that the females average some- what larger than the males, as is frequent in the family. The table No. 691 17 18 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 34 below gives the measurements of the adults of osgoodi, and also measurements of various populations of major and tao, the most nearly related species (averages in parentheses) : osgoodi Sex 3d" Wing 234-248 (240) Culmen 37-38 (37.5) Tarsus 75-78 (76) major peruvianns. tao kleei 79 10 cT 99 4(? 239-256 (249.1) 220-254 (241.8) 227-259 (242.7) 265-295 (281) 39-41.5 (40.3) 32-38 (35.3) 33-38 (36.4) 42-44 (43.3) 75-83 (78.9) 64-73 (68.2) 64-76 (69.7) 75-86 (81) tao tao 19 4cf 265 277-300 (288.5) 44 41-44 (42.3) 78 76-80 (78) 49 292-301 (298) 41-46 (43) 76-79 (77.7) It is evident that osgoodi agrees closely with major in wing length but has a much longer tarsus, and agrees closely with tao in tarsal length but has a much shorter wing. In length of culmen it falls between major and tao. There is nothing in the measure- ments, therefore, that relates osgoodi more closely to one or the other of the two. Besides the skins, a clutch of two eggs has also been received. They are typical of the genus, being nearly spherical, and a glossy robin 's-egg blue, a much clearer blue than a clutch of five eggs of T. major peruvianus. They differ in size, however, from the eggs of both major and tao; the comparative measurements are: ft 62.1 X 55.1; 63.3 X 55.8 major (5) av 53.7 X 47.0 tao 56 X 48; 58 X 48 (Beebe, Zoologica, 1 : 1909, p. 71) Not only are the eggs of osgoodi larger in both dimensions than those of major and tao, but they are more nearly spherical, the increase in the short diameter being proportionately greater. The single downy young (male) of osgoodi is sufficiently old so that the remiges and wing coverts are grown, but it retains the downy covering of the head and body. Its measurements are: wing 120; culmen 20; tarsus 35. Even at this early stage the serrations on the plantar surface of the tarsus are quite evident. The pattern of markings is similar to that of two downy young of T. major peruvianus from Pucallpa, Rio Ucayali, and differs from that of T. major robustus, as figured by Taibel (1939, p. 16) only in minor details. The head is generally a light brownish buff, with a broad rec- tangular stripe washed with sooty on the hind crown and nape, the stripe sharply separated from the paler brownish buff by a narrow TRAYLOR: BIRDS FROM MARCAPATA VALLEY, PERU 19 fuscous border; lores fuscous, and a fuscous stripe running from the posterior border of the eye, through the auriculars onto the neck; chin and throat whitish; neck, upper back and upper breast fuscous brown; lower back and rump sooty buff, sharply distinct from the dark rufescent brown sides; lower breast and belly shading from fuscous brown to pale brown. "Eyes coffee; beak black, brown, gray; feet bluish gray." The general coloration of the downy young of major is much more rufescent. The only young specimen of tao has downy plumage only on the head, but there is enough remaining to show that the broad crown stripe is deep tawny. There is nothing in the above new material that relates osgoodi closely to any of the other species in the genus, and it is evidently a distinct species with a very local range. Kalinowski says that it is common in the Marcapata Valley near his farm, Hacienda Cadena, and ranges in altitude from about 600 to 1,200 meters. It has been known and hunted by his family for a great many years, even by his father, the celebrated collector Jean Kalinowski, and is apparently a thriving and successful species within its limited range. Nonnula ruficapilla ruficapilla Tschudi One female, Balceadero, Rio Nusiniscato, Marcapata Valley, 630 meters, November 13, 1949; wing 61.5, tail 56, culmen 23; "eye coffee brown; beak black with gray blue; feet grayish blue." This is apparently the first record of this species from southeastern Peru. When compared with an adult male and an immature female from Vista Alegre, Huanuco, there is a good deal of variation that may prove to be sexual. The two females have a much darker rufous pileum than the male but they are paler on the under parts, particularly on the lower belly and crissum, which are almost white in the Balceadero female. A more adequate series of adults, however, would be necessary to demonstrate the constancy of these characters. Pteroglossus castanotis castanotis Gould One female, Hacienda Cadena, Marcapata Valley, 1,000 meters, June 17, 1950; wing 160, tail 155, culmen 107; "eye white; beak black, yellow, red, yellowish brown; feet grayish green, blue." Although this species is well known from the tropical zone of northeastern Peru, there appears to be no previous record for south- eastern Peru. On geographical grounds the population from south- eastern Peru might be expected to show an approach to the race 20 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 34 australis of eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, but the present specimen shows no signs of intermediacy and is typical of the nominate race both in size and color. The characters that have generally been used to separate the two races of this species, castanotis and australis, are the presence or absence of a chestnut crown patch, and the intensity of the chestnut on the nape, sides of the head, and throat. P. australis has been characterized by the presence of the crown patch and by much paler coloration. However, comparative measurements show that a much more constant character is the length of the culmen, which is much shorter in australis. Measurements of available specimens are: Males Wing Tail Culmen Peru (4) 157-162 (158.5) 149-156 (151.3) 116-133 (122.3) Western Brazil and Beni, Bolivia* (10) 157-166 (161.9) 140-168 (154.5) 110-122 (117.8) Santa Cruz, Bolivia. . . (5) 153-162 (158.2) 146-150 (147.8) 105-116 (112.2) Paraguay and eastern Brazil (5) 153-159 (155.6) 136-152 (145.3) 90-102 (96.6) 144-155 (149.5) 101-112 (106.7) Females Peru (3) 154-160 (156) Western Brazil and Beni, Bolivia* (5) 153-159 (156.8) 142-161 (149.2) 103-111 (107.6) Paraguay and eastern Brazil (7) 154-160 (157.3) 138-160 (149.7) 88-101 (92.7) * From Gyldenstolpe (1951, p. 121). It is evident that the birds from Paraguay and eastern Brazil (Goyaz, Minas Geraes, and Mato Grosso) have much shorter cul- mens than those from Peru, western Brazil, and Beni, Bolivia, and certainly warrant separation as australis. Gyldenstolpe had only a male and female from Paraguay to represent australis, and he believed that that race would prove to be smaller in all dimensions. The above measurements do not bear this out, and it is almost certain that his female, which has excessively small measurements wing 143, tail 117, culmen 83 is a young bird. As noted by Gyldenstolpe, the chestnut crown patch is a poor character, not being invariably absent in castanotis or present in australis, although more prevalent in the latter. The chestnut coloration on the head and nape is also subject to wide individual variation, but it averages much paler and is more extensive in australis, although there is a slight overlap. The most consistent TRAYLOR: BIRDS FROM MARCAPATA VALLEY, PERU 21 color character appears to be the color of the thighs, which are invariably a darker chestnut in castanotis than in australis. While there is no confusion between typical australis and casta- notis, the disposition of the birds from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, is more difficult. In bill length they are intermediate, but somewhat closer to castanotis, while in color they are much closer to australis. Since they represent a population that is more or less intermediate geo- graphically, it would serve little purpose to insert a poorly defined third race between the two present well-defined ones, and the popu- lation from eastern Bolivia should be placed with australis, which it resembles most closely. The ranges of the two races would then be: castanotis, eastern Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, east to the Rio Negros and Rio Purus and south to the department of Beni, Bolivia; australis, eastern Bolivia, southern Mato Grosso, and Paraguay to Goyaz, Minas Geraes and northeastern Argentina. Campylorhamphus pucherani Des Murs One male, Hacienda Cadena, Marcapata Valley, 1,600 meters, September 24, 1949; wing 122, tail 114, culmen 59; "eye dark coffee; beak gray cream; feet brown gray." The presence of this bird in southeastern Peru marks a surprising extension of range for this species, which has hitherto not been known south of Ecuador. The Marcapata male varies considerably in color from a male from Condeja, eastern Ecuador. The Condeja bird is much more rufescent on the upper parts and on the breast, and has the pale shaft streaks much more pronounced and extending onto the belly. In the Marcapata bird the streaks are faint and blurred on the upper parts and throat and breast, and practically wanting on the belly. In all these characters the Ecuador specimen agrees with the original description and plate (Des Murs, 1849, livr. 12, pi. 68). Chapman (1926, p. 470) records exactly the same type of variation between a male from Cocal, western Andes of Colombia, and one from upper Sumaco, eastern Ecuador; in this MEASUREMENTS Sex Wing Tail Culmen "Bogota" (Des Murs)