Description of a new species of whippoor-will from Mexico

VOL. _XVIII, PP. 111-112

MARCH

_31, 1905

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF WHIP-POOR- WILL FPvOM MEXICO.

BY

E.

W. NELSON.

For

the privilege ^of describing ^this strongly

marked

_species I

am indebted

to the courtesy ^of

Dr.

J.

A. Allen and Mr. Frank M. Chapman,

^ofthe

^American Museum

of

Natural

_History.

Antrostomus

notabilis _sp.nov.

Type from _Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico,

No

; 81,519, cT adult,

Am.

Mus.Nat. Hist.(SennettCollection), April 13, 1888.

General Characters. ResemblesA. macromystaz^{in color} of upperparts, butsizedecidedlylarger

and

with white

marking

(buffy ⁱⁿ females)

on

outertailfeatherreducedtoanarrow_diagonal

band

across tip as in Ni/cta- greusyucatanicus&nd^unlike

any

^otherspeciesofAntrostomusin Mexico.

Descriptionofmale_(type).

Crown and

_napefinelymottled grayishbrown, with adistinctbuffyshadeanteriorly; feathers on middle of

crown and

napeheavily streaked with broadblack centers;sidesof

crown and

_nape

more

_narrowlystreakedwith same,the black streaksnarrowly edged^with clearergray than^restof

crown

;back

and

sidesofneck with scattered in dications of a buffy^collar;middleofback

and rump

^likemiddleof

^crown

but

more

_narrowlystreaked

and

_general color a little duller_; scapulars basally^cleargray,slightlystreaked with_buffy,with large irregulartermi nal orsubterminal black_spots;tertialsmottled withgray

and

_black, with irregularblack shaft streaks_;the_lightpart ofscapulars

and

tertials form inga_{pale area}on eachsideofback;top of closed^taildullblackirregularly mottledwithdullbuffy

and

_grayforming poorly defined irregular bands

on

terminal half offeathers;primaries

and

secondaries dusky, with deep buffy spotsalong outerwebs (moststrongly

marked

on_primaries);under sideof primariesdusky, with^{aseriesofsmallindistinct}buffy spots along

middleof inner

webs on

distalhalf offirst primary;other primaries with

16 PROC. BIOL. Soc.WASH., VOL. XVIII,^1905. (ill)

112 Nelson New

_{Species of} Whip-poor-will

from

^Mexico.

slightly largerspots

on same webs

;rictalbristles large

and

coarseasinA.

macromystax; chin

and

throatdusky,finelybarredwith

cinnamon

buff

and

bordered below

by

^abuffywhitecollar;restof underparts

dusky

thickly mottled

and

spotted with reddish brown, gray,

and

_white, the_spotting

more denned and

darkeronbreast

and

_paler

and more

diffuseon

abdomen

;

undertailcovertsdeep^dullbuff coarsely barred with

dusky

^{; underside of} outertailfeatherirregularlybarredwith deepbuffy mottling

and

_tipped with a narrow_diagonal

band

ofwhite_(occupyinglessthan _^ its length);

thisterminal

band

withitshighestpoint on outer border of outer

web;

secondfeatherwithsimilarwhite

band

;thirdfeatherwith a very narrow buffy

band

_mainly

on

_tipofouterweb.

Female. Generally^similartomale but outer tail feathers tipped with narrower bandsofdullbuff

and

underside oftail coverts

more

_strongly

banded

withbuffy mottling.

Measurements_oftype.

Wing,

¹⁷⁵

mm.

; tail,127_; culmen,¹⁴; tarsus,^19.

Measurements _offemale

from

type locality. Wing, 173;tail,122; culmen, 13.5; tarsus, ^18.

Measurements _ofa,n adult male Antrostomus salvini, No._40,093,

Museum

ComparativeZoology,takenatChichenitza,Yucatan,

March

_{19, 1904,}

by

L. J. Cole.

Wing,

176; tail,130; culmen,14; tarsus, ^18.

Specimens examined. Five, as follows: Victoria, Tamaulipas,³; Mira- dor,

Vera

_Cruz,2.

Distribution. Eastern

Mexico

_alongbasal slopes of the Cordillera from Victoria,Tamaulipas,^southat least toMiradar,

Vera

Cruz _{(500to 3,000}ft.

altitude).

Remarks. In _general color this species ^is

much

like A. macromystax from

which

^itslarger size

and

_peculiarly

marked

tailrenderiteasily sep arable. Insizeitcloselyapproaches^{A. salvini} but thetail markings ^are strikingly^different.

The

_type of A. salvini

came

from

Yucatan and

is described

and

_figuredinthe Biologia Centrali-Americana, Aves,II, p.387, pi. 586.

Both

Hartert

and

the authors of the Biologia

have

referred the Antrostomvs macromystax of Baird, Brewer,

and

_Ridgway, Birds ofNorth America,II, p.409, toA. salvini.

That

thisis

an

erroris

shown by exam

inationofthespecimens fromMirador, describedⁱⁿthe

work

_cited,

which

are perfectly typicalexamples^{ofA.notabilis} with the distinctive narrow white_{tips to}thetailfeathers.

As

thewhite

on

the tail of A. notabilis is likethaton Nyctagreus yucatanicus the

marked

differencein thischaracter betweenit

and

salvinicanbeseen

by

^a glance at plates 58a

and

586 in vol.IIofthe_Biologia.