Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 81
newly hatched young on December 16. The head of an adult male,
discarded by some hunter, was found on the day following. At
Guamini, in this same region, I noted ten or a dozen cinnamon teal
on March 3, 1921, among them two males in full brown plumage.
Others were noted on March 4. On March 28 a female was observed
near Tunuyan, Mendoza.
QUERQUEDULA VERSICOLOR VERSICOLOR (Vieillot)
Anas versicolor Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 5, 1816, p. 109.
(Paraguay.)
The gray teal was noted in numbers near Lavalle, Province of
Buenos Aires, Argentina, from October 28 to November 9, 1920, but
was not observed elsewhere in the regions visited. At Los Yngleses
the birds were common in the caiiadones and were found in pairs
or in small flocks. They frequented shallow, open pools in the
marshes, and wdien flushed flew with swift darting flight rather low
over the rushes. Many times they were observed in passage over
the marsh, but never traveled at high altitudes in the air. On November
9 I encountered several flocks, each containing 8 or 10 males,
that apparently were banded together after having bred. These
remained separate from the mated birds, frequenting the water of
open pools, or standing on the shore of some pond or open marsh.
A female was taken October 28 and three others, a male and two
females, on October 31.
From examination of a small series of these teal in the Unite(i
States National Museum, it appears that birds from the Straits of
Magellan may be separated as Querquedula versicolor fretensls
(King).^^ A bird sexed as a female but probably a male examined
from Gregory Bay differs from northern birds in larger size and
in bolder, heavier markings on the underparts, especially on the
abdomen. The bill in particular is long and heavy. The measure-
ments, in millimeters, of this specimen are as follows : Wing, 203.0
tail, 75.5; culmen, 47.0; tarsus, 36.5. Specimens that represent true
versicolor have been examined from Paraguay, Province of Buenos
Aires, Argentina, and central Chile. The bill in these ranges froni
38.2 to 43 mm., the wing from 180.9 to 192.5 mm. The northward
range of the subspecies fretensis is at present uncertain.
SPATULA PLATALEA (Vieillot)
Anas platalea Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 5, 1816, p. 157.
(Paraguay.)
A few males were noted November 8, 1920, near Lavalle, Buenos
Aires, in company with southern pintails recently arrived in migra-
ns Anas fretensis King, Proc. ZooL Soc. London, pt. 1, Jan. 6, 1831, p. 15. (Straits
of Magellan.)
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