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224 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
Though this flicker fed constantly on the ground, and in tlie trees
often perched on a limb like other birds, it climbed with ease, and
often emulated other woodpeckers in clambering over the trunks or
limbs. The flight Avas bounding and was marked by the display of
the white rump and the flashing of the undersurface of the wings.
In Uruguay, as in Brazil, they were known as jnco pao or less often
as j>ico pico.
The species was recorded at the following points: Las Palmas,
Chaco, July 13 to 31, 1920; San Vicente, Uruguay, January 26 to
February 2, 1921 ; Lazcano, Uruguay, February 5 to 9 ; Rio Negro,
Uruguay, February 15 to 19. The lack of records from the southern
part of the range of the species is notable. An adult male from San
Vicente, taken January 26, has the undersurface of the tail washed
strongly with yellow. A male and a female from Las Palmas, taken
July 13, lack this marking entirely.
COLAPTES PITIUS PITIUS (Molina)
Pious pitius Molina, Sngg. Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, p. 236. (Cliile.)
The typical form of the Chilian flicker is distinguished from
C p. cachinna7is Wetmore and Peters ^^ of southern Patagonia by
longer, broader bill, and less heavily barred underparts, in particular
on the sides.
After careful consideration of the smaller generic groups into
which the flickers recently have been separated, I do not consider
that the genera Pituipicus and Soroplex are well founded. Pitui-
picus has been distinguished from Soroplex and Colaptes on the
grounds that it possesses a bill longer than the head, gonys longer
than mandibular rami, and length of tail equal to less than two-
thirds of wing. The last-named character has no weight, as in a
series of nine specimens I find that the tail is universally equiva-
lent to two-thirds or more of the length of wing. As regards the
other characters it is found that they do not hold true in the short-
billed southern subspecies of pitius^ in which the gonys is no longer
than the mandibular rami and the bill equal to or shorter than the
head. Pituipicus^ therefore, may not be maintained. To continue,
after careful study it is found that the South American flickers
included in the genus Soroplex differ from true Colaptes only in
heavier bill, in black rather than in highly colored undersurface
of tail, and in lack of a black breast crescent. Alleged characters
based on the form and character of the gonys are unstable. On
consideration of this matter I do not hold Soroplex as a valid group
to be distinguished from true Golaptes.^^
^ Proc. Eiol. Soc. Wasbiugton, vol. 35, Mar. 20, 1922, p. 43. (Bariloche, Gobernacion