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

198 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
on September 13. Through this region these parrakeets, known in
Anguete as chi to ffwi, and in Guarani as nenday, were fairly common,
especially among open palm forests where palm nuts offered
food. Occasionally they fed on the ground under trees that had
dropped their seeds. Like other parrots they fly regularly to water
and alight in bushes where these stand in pools and sidle down until
they cau reach the fluid. They travel in flocks of ten to a dozen
individuals, that feed, or move in company, with fairly swift, direct
flight. Their approach is heralded by loud squalling calls and should
one of their number be killed, those remaining redouble their outcry.
The common call may be represented as kree-ah kree-ah. The
species was recorded at Kilometer 200 on September 25. A few
were noted during August at the Riacho Pilaga, in central Formosa,
but were so wary that none Avere secured.
A male taken September 13 had the bill sooty black ; iris chamois
tarsus pale vinaceous fawn.
THECTOCERCUS ACUTICAUDATUS (Vieillot)
Psittacus aciiticaudatus Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol 25, 1817, p.
3G9. (Lat. 24° S., Paraguay.)
At the Riacho Pilaga (Kilometer 182), Formosa, on August 11,
1920, a male parrakeet of this species flew out from the border of
a forest to rest in the sun in a dead tree, where I shot it after a long
stalk. On August 18 another was taken from a flock of 20 that
passed awiftly overhead. Two others were seen on August 21. The
Toba Indians called this bird ta tas.
On December 28 I found these birds fairly common in the open
forest near Victorica, Pampa, and collected a male. At this season
they seemed to be nesting for frequently as I passed through the
timber single birds darted swiftly around with shrieking calls.
They were feeding here on the piquillin and other berry-bearing
bushes.
At Tapia, Tucuman, from April 6 to 13 the species was common
in the forests, where they ranged in considerable bands wherever
seeds, berries, or the fruit of large tree cacti offered food. Morning
and evening bands flew down to the river to drink, often flying
high in the air, and then returned to the cover of the forest. It was
said that they destroyed much corn at certain seasons. The long
tail readily distinguished this parrot from others and gave them
somewhat the appearance of Gyanoliseus. As they passed overhead
the light colored maxilla and feet were often visible. Three that
were killed on April 8 were preserved as specimens. The birds
are not bad eating where meat is scarce.
Specimens from Pampa and Tucuman seem slightly duller green
than those from Formosa, but the series at hand is too small to
establish the difference definitely. The acute tip of the maxilla in
;