Page:Auk Volume 37-1920.djvu/267

 THE AUK: A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY. Vol. xxxvii. April, 1920. No. 2 A REVISION OF THE GENUS EUPSYCHORTYX. BY W. E. CLYDE TODD. Plates V-VI. Introduction. When, some three years ago, the writer had occasion to take up for identification the gradually increasing series of South American Crested Quails in the collection of the Carnegie Museum, he experienced great difficulty in reaching definite conclusions. Dis- crepancies were evident between the specimens in hand and the published descriptions consulted, and it soon became apparent that the group was sadly in need of revision. Preliminary studies made at that time resulted in the publication of two forms believed to be new. More recently he has been led to take up the whole matter afresh in connection with a new faunal study of the birds of the Santa Marta region of Colombia. For various reasons it has seemed desirable to present the results of this particular investigation in a separate paper, and to go into the subject in more detail than would otherwise be permissible, the more so in view of the fact that the status of the newly described forms has recently been questioned, and that there still seems to be a great deal of uncertainty regarding the relationships and nomenclature of the older forms as well. Such a study has been made possible only through the courtesy of other institutions and individuals in the loan of material, and I have to thank the authorities of 189