Sporophila luctuosa (Lafresnaye)

Spermophila luctuosa Lafresnaye, Rev. Zool., 6, p. 291, 1843 (Bogotá, Colombia).

Specimens examined.— COLOMBIA 7 ♂, " Bogotá ", 2 ♀,⁴ El Hato, Norte de Santander; ♂, ♀, río Jurubidá; ♂, Toche; 4 ♂, 2 ♀, Morelia. ECUADOR: ♂, 2 ♀, Tumbaco; ♂, 2 ♀, Cumbaya; ♀, Chunchi; 2 ♀, Loja; ♀ = ♂, Las Pinas; ♂, junction of the Chanchan and Chiguancay; ♂, ♀, “ Oriente ”; ♂, no locality. PERU: ♂, ♀ 2 o, río Jelashte; ♂, imm., Uscho; 2 ♂, ♀, Moyobamba; 2 ♀, Saposoa; ♂, Huancapistana; ♂, Accobamba (type of S. l. albilateralis Carriker); 2 ♂, 2 ♀, Puerto Yessup; 2 ♂, ♀,) Huancamayo; ♂, La Oroya. BOLIVIA: ♂, 2 ♂ imm., Chiñirí; ♀, Calabatea; ♂ imm., Todos Santos; 2 ♂, Santa Ana; 2 ♂ imm., ♀, Samaipata.

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Measurements.— ♂ ♂ wing 51 (worn, río Jurubidá), 55-60 mm., tail 37 (worn, río Jurubidá), 38- 44.5 mm., culmen 8-9.5 mm.; ♀ ♀ wing 53 - 58.5 mm., tail 34.5 (worn, río Jurubidá), 38-44 mm., culmen 7.5-8.5 mm.

Description of female.— Fresh plumage: very similar to lineola, but under parts hardly tinged yellow. Culmen less curved than in most species of Sporophila. Worn plumage: upper parts browner, below isabelline suffused with brownish on the breast. Distinguishable from S. lineola by having a darker, more brownish, mandible.

Range.—Colombia, except the southwest,Venezuela (Tachira), eastem and western Ecuador, Peru, and northern Bolivia (Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and La Paz).

Remarks.—Undeniably birds from Colombia have on the average more black on the sides than do birds from Ecuador southward. However, as has been noted before,birds from the last mentioned region sometimes have just as much.Should one wish to recognize this difference,it is possible that Lesson's leucomelas,described from"Amerique"(Écho du Monde Sav., 11e année,2nd sém., No. 10, col.234, 1844),is applicable if based on a southern bird with white flanks.(Unfortunately, the publication in which it is described is not available to me.) If not,Carriker's albilateralis (Proc. Acad. Nat.Sci.Phila.,82, p. 374, 1930)based on a bird from Peru, could be used.I do not believe,however,that southern birds are constantly different enough to warrant their separation.