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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 121
General Eoca, Rio Negro, from November 23 to December 3 the
birds were found in small sloughs, or, with bands of the larger
bodied F. armillata^ on open channels. From their actions they
seemed to be breeding, but no nests were found and Doctor Dabbene
states that they do not nest until the end of January or the first part
of February.^
Near Carhue, Buenos Aires, white-winged coots were found from
December 15 to 18 in a little fresh-water marsh that bordered an
arroyo draining into Lake Epiquen. Truculent males grasped one
another by the feet and then struck savage blows with their pointed
bills. From March 3 to 8, 1921, bands of adults and young were
found along the open shores of the Laguna del Monte at Guamini,
where there were no growths of rushes of any kind. One was noted
on the Rio Aconcagua near Concon, Chile, on April 28.
An adult female shot October 31 had the bill, eye, and legs colored
as follows: Tip of bill Biscay green, shading inward to dull green-
yellow; basal half of bill pale vinaceous fawn, becoming whitish at
extreme base; base of mandible tinged with green; frontal shield
slightly paler than strontian yellow; iris mars orange; tarsus and
toes Paris green, with posterior face of tarsus and outer margin of
lobes on toes dawn gray, shading on the outer margins of the lobes
to castor gray.
Skins of the white-winged coot are marked by the greenish crus
and the orange or yellow shade of the frontal shield. The median
under tail coverts vary from black to dark neutral gray, the outer
margin of the tenth primary is margined with white, and the sec-
ondaries are tipped more or less extensively with white. The frontal
plate is rounded posteriorly and the tail measures from 48-.56.5 mm.
There is little or no white on the abdomen.
Measurements of a pair are as follows: Male, wing, 191.0; tail,
56.5 ; tarsus, 58.0 ; female, wing, 173 ; tail, 50.6 ; tarsus, 52.5 mm.
GALLINULA CHLOROPUS GALEATA (Lichtenstein)
Crex galeata Lichtenstein, Verz. Ausgest. Saug. Vog., 1818, p. 36. (Brazil.)
The validity of this form, as distinct from G. c. cachinnans Bangs
from North America, is sustained by a series of five males and two
females secured August 9 and 16, 1920, at the Riacho Pilaga, For-
mosa. Individuals in adult stage are readily separated from similar
specimens of cachinnans by their more olivaceous, less brownish
backs. In addition the white of the abdomen, when birds are viewed
in series, is less extensive in southern than in northern birds, and
may be practically absent in adults of galeata. The white on this
area, however, varies so with age as to be of little use in studying
5 An. Mus. Nac. Hist. Nat. Buenos Aires, vol. 28, July 19, 1916, p. 184.