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

BIRDS OF AEGEXTIXA, PARAGUAY, TRUGUAY, AND CHILE 205
the underfri'owth of shrubs grew in thicket formation, leaving small
openings dotted with tufts of grass. The birds rested in shade, on
little spots of bare earth, singly, or occasionally as many as three
together. When startled they flushed with a rattle of ^^ings pro-
duced in part by striking the wings above the back, and after a
graceful, somewhat erratic darting flight of a few meters, dropped
suddenly to earth. After alighting they frequentty bobbed up to the
full length of the legs and then dropped suddenly down again, or
opened and closed their great mouths in silent protest at my intru-
sion. Adult males in flight SAvung erratically from side to side with
a flashing of the long, deeply forked tail as they turned. It was not
uncommon for them to elude me completeh- in dense brush without
offering a shot. One that fell disabled emitted a low growling call
that at times terminated sharply in a croak intended to startle an
enem3^ Of six collected here, four Avere preserved as skins. Three
of these are adult males in partial molt, and one an immature female.
The elongated lateral rectrices had been dropped in two of the males,
and in the other were very loosely attached, Avhile molt of the body
plumage was beginning. Two specimens show an interesting molt
of the rictal bristles in which the separate bristles are being shed and
renewed irregularly. The immature female had developed the pos-
terior bristles first, and then six of the anterior ones had grown in
.simultaneously, and have the bases still inclosed in sheaths.
An adult male had the bill dull black ; iris Hay's brown ; tarsus
and toes deep brownish drab ; claws dull black.
At Lazcano. Uruguay, a female, apparently adult, was taken February
5, 1921, among small open thickets near the Rio CeboUati.
Three were seen and an adult female taken near Rio Negro. Uruguay,
on February 1-1.
One flushed in a diT wash on March 13, above the city of Mendoza,
in the Province of Mendoza, was probably a migrant as it was in
a drier, more arid region than usual.
Specimens from western xVrgentina have the nuchal collar slightly
paler, more buffy, less rufescent than those from Brazil, Paraguay,
and Uruguay, but this character is slightly variable and may be due
to age or condition of plumage.
PODAGER NACUNDA (Vieillot)
Caprinuilgiis iiaciinda Vieillot, Xouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 10, 1817, p.
240. (Paraguay.)
The iiacunda, a summer visitant in southern South America, is
now apparently' rarer than in the days of Hudson, a condition
caused perhaps by increased cultivation and extensive grazing in
its haunts on the open pampa. Early writers speak of flocks con-