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

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 215
SCAPANEUS LEUCOPOGON (Valenciennes)
Piciis leucopogon Valenciennes, Diet. Sci. Nat., vol. 40, 1826, p. 178.
(Brazil.)
The i:)resent species was first recorded at Las Palmas, Chaco,
when a male was collected on July 14, 1920. One was seen on July
24, and a female was shot on July 27. At the Riacho Pilaga, Formosa,
the species was fairly common from August 7 to 16, and
four were taken on August 7, 11, and 18, The birds inhabited
tracts of forest, where the trees were tall, and fed over the trunks
and larger limbs as do pileated woodpeckers. On August 11 males
began to drum, indicating that the breeding season was at hand,
and a female shot on this day had a fully formed egg in the ovi-
duct. It measures 35.0 by 24.6 mm., and, like other woodpeckers'
€ggs, is white in color. The drumming of the male was a curious
performance, entirely different from what one would expect from
so strong and robust a bird. The dead limb chosen for a resonator
was struck twice with great rapidity, ta tat, the two sounds almost
blending into one so quickly did they come. After a rest of a few
seconds the drum was given again, and so on, frequently for considerable
periods, especially during the hours of early morning.
The sound produced, though short, was audible for a considerable
distance, so that I heard it frequently' when working about lagoons
far from forests. A male taken on August 18 must have shared in
the duties of incubation, as the entire abdomen was bare of feathers,
while the skin of the denuded area was wrinkled and thickened.
Near Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, in the vicinitj' of Kilometer 80,
this woodpecker was heard drumming on September 9, and indi-
viduals were seen on September 15 and 20. In this region they
were far from common. Near Tapia, Tucuman, a pair Avas taken
on April 12, 1921, in open, dry forest on the slope of a hill. At
intervals these two gave subdued chattering calls. In flight this
species progresses in strong bounds. The skin is thick and tough
and adheres so closely to the bod}' that the preparation of specimens
is difficult. On the head it is necessaiy to separate the skin
from the skull with a knife, so firmly is it attached to the bone.
The bill in an adult male, shot July 14, was olive buff, browner
toward the tip ; iris pinard yellow ; tarsus chaetura drab.
The Toba Indians called this species ne on rah.
CEOPHLOEUS LINEATUS LINEATUS (Linnaeus)
Picas Uneatus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 174.
(Cayenne.)
A fine adult male was taken on July 16, 1920, near Las Palmas,
Chaco, in a grove of tall trees on an open prairie. Attention was
attracted to it by its steady hammering as it Iniocked flakes of