Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

VOL. _XVIII, pp.61-64 FEBRUARY 21,

1905

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE NEW BIRDS FROM ^ST. VINCENT, WEST INDIES.

BY AUSTIN

H.

CLARK.

On _{working up} a

collection of birds

obtained by myself on

the island of St.

Vincent during 1903-04,

^I find three

forms apparently

^well

worthy

^ofrecognition. All threeofthese birds

appear

^to

be

rare incollections,

which

possibly

accounts

fortheir

not having ^been previously

characterized.

Two

(Urubitinga anthracina cancrivora

nob. and

Holoquiscahis dispar

nob.)

^are

only known from

St.

Vincent, although the former

_possibly occurs

on

St.

Lucia and Dominica

_;

Buteo

antillarum

nob.

has.

an

extensive

West Indian

_range,

and may ^{be found}

^to

^be

separ able into several local races.

Holoquiscalus dispar sp.nov.

"BARBADOS"

BLACKBIRD.

BEQUIA

^SWEET.

Type.

From

Kingstown,^St.Vincent,Oct. 31, 1903. No. _12,802,female adult,^coll.E. A.

and

_{O. Bangs.}

Characters. ^Bill

much

as in

H.

inflexirostris of St. Lucia; longer

and more

_compressed than in H. martinicensis of Martinique.

The

male is

similarin color tothemalesofboththese _species,but the female is very different from _either,being even darker than^thefemaleof

H.

fortirostris ofBarbados,though

somewhat

likeitincolor. Insizethe birdis a little smallerthan

H.

martinicensis.

MEASUREMENTS.

62

Clark Three

New Birds from

^{the West Indies.}

Distribution. Island ofSt. Vincent; confinedto the_vicinityof Kings town,

and

neighboring

windward

district.

Buteo

antillarum _sp. nov.

ANTILLEAN CHICKEN HAWK.

GREE-GREE.

Type.

From

Chateaubelair,^St.Vincent_(British

West

Indies), Sept. 24, 1903. No._12,852,maleadult,^coll.E.

A

.

and

O.Bangs.

Characters.

Somewhat

similar to Buteo platypterus Vieill., but smaller

and more

_rufous,the rufous edgings^tothe feathersabove_{wider, the}under- parts

more

rufous,

and

the thighs buff,

more

_thickly barred than in B.

platypterus. Inthe

young

^theground^colorbelowisbuffy white,

becoming

darker

on

the

abdomen and

_thighs. Irisyellowishwhiteinallstages,not

brown

asinB.platypterus. Cere_yellow. Feet orange yellow. ^Billdark slaty.

MEASUREMENTS.

Wing

^{Tail Tarsus}

mm. mm.

B. antillarum Type tf^St.Vincent

B.platypterus 9 9

c?*

Dominica

rf

c?

9 9

c?

Panama

_(winter)

248 244 240 272 256 254 253 258 252 244 251 252 278 270 264 275

154 154 152 165 163 151 154 154 159 156 156 165 171 158 160 170

mm.

55 54 53 55 53 55 54 62 59 59 60 60 60 61

63 61

*Thesexasmarked onthe specimens fromDominica_appearstobe questionableⁱⁿ someinstances.

Clark Three

New Birds from

^{the WestIndies.}

⁶³ A

comparison betweenthespecimens from ^St.Vincent

and

othersfrom the island ofDominica, kindlyloaned

by

^{Dr. LouisB.}Bishop,

shows

that theDominicabirdisdarker

and more

sooty above,

more

_heavily

marked

onthebreast,

and

_deeper^buffonthe underparts, suggesting the presence ofagood^localraceonthatisland. Allthe birdswereobtainedinOctober

and

_September.

The

irisoftheDominica birds is given ^as white_(A.H.

Verrill, collector).

Ihave

examined

aspecimen from

Cuba

_(in thecollectionof Messrs. E.

A.

and

0.Bangs) which agreesvery well with the St.Vincent examples except^{insize. Itis}

marked

^"_male,"butis the size ofthe femalesfrom

St.Vincent. Thereisapossibilitythatthe birdiswrongly^sexed.

While

onthe island of Carriacou in the Grenadines,^I

had

_{an opportu} nity ofexamining, through ^the kindness of Dr.

Dunbar

B. B. Hughes, a

number

_{of eggs of}this bird, in the collection of the late Mr.

John

Grant Wells,

which

wereobtainedinGrenada. Six setswererepresented.

The

eggs are^dullbluish white, unspotted.

The

natives at St. Vincentalso in formed

me

that thisbirdlaid unspottedeggs.

Distribution. Grenada, Bequia (Grenadines), ^St. Vincent, ^St. Lucia, Dominica,

and

_probablyother of thelesser Antilles; Cuba. ?PortoRico

Urubitinga anthracina cancrivora subsp. nov.

WEST

INDIAN

BLACK HAWK.

CRABIER.

Type.

From

Barrouallie, ^St.Vincent, Jan. 22,1904. No. _12,804,female adult,^coll.E. A.

and

_{O. Bangs.}

Characters. Bill longer

and

_{relatively narrower,} with

more

_produced

tipthanintrue U.anthracina from the mainland; feathersofhind neck

and

back_spottedwithbuff

and

white (in ^{U. a.}anthracinathe hind neck

isspottedwithwhitish, but there^is very^{little if}

any

^on the back); gen eral colordeeper^blackthaninthemainlandform.

This bird inhabits the higher

wooded

_{valleys of}St. Vincent, keeping nearthe ground. ^{It is}rarelyseenfarfromwater.

The

type specimen

was

_presented to

me _by

Mr.

John

F.H. Otway,^the Colonial Postmaster ofSt.Vincent.